


When I'm Close To You

by vicereine



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Fluff, M/M, On Hiatus, POV Alternating, Self-Indulgent, i'll be back soon though!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-03-30 20:16:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 44,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13959210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vicereine/pseuds/vicereine
Summary: Ousted from the professional cooking world before he was even all the way through the door, Taako is working as a landscape designer for a company known as Dirty Plants. He lives a life of simple pleasures, keeping people at arm's length and hopes and dreams packed away. Kravitz is a mortician who has accepted his lot in life: a strange man, alone with his music. Taako is a burst of color and fresh air in Kravitz's life; Kravitz is exactly the type of person Taako hoped to never meet - someone who might tear down his defenses for good.





	1. In Which Taako Gives Angus a Good Fright

The problem isn’t that Angus is too young to walk himself home, it’s the neighborhood. Taako doesn’t live in the slums, but his neighborhood isn’t really a place for a kid to wander around alone, either. It’s on _that_ side of downtown. So it’s especially bad for a boy detective who doesn’t know how to keep his nose out of other people’s business; that’s why he’s stuck with him in the first place, or so he reminds himself when his brain starts to think too fondly of Angus.

Taako walks at a languid pace next to Angus as they reach his street, knowing but not acknowledging that neither of them are in any hurry for him to go home. “You keep working on that mage hand,” he says. “Just don’t go trying anything fancy on your own, little dude.”

The neighborhood Angus lives in now is considerably nicer than Taako’s. It’s a historic area where people have been buying buildings to convert into homes and it’s quickly been filled by the hoity-toity type of people who like white picket fences and employ other people to take care of their houses. It’s easily the nicest foster home Angus has been in since Taako met him a couple years earlier. Taako probably could have dropped him off a few streets ago, it’s a safe neighborhood, but he likes to show he has some sense of responsibility by seeing him all the way home.

The dwarves Angus lives with this time around are nice, if a little cold. They can provide for Angus, though; they have food, space, time for him… Angus has been in just about every kind of family situation possible and this is the nicest yet. Even if they aren’t the warmest and Angus has expressed concerns that they don’t understand him, Taako sleeps better just knowing the boy isn’t in an unstable situation.

“I know, I know,” Angus sighs. He set one of his books on fire studying cantrips one time and Taako has never let him live it down. It hadn’t even been much of a fire, just enough of a flame to be impressive, but Angus had panicked. The way Angus acted, you’d think Taako was going to rat him out to his caseworker for arson and then saunter jauntily out of his life because clearly he was a danger to be around. Instead, Taako just teased him about taking proper safety precautions, and maybe he said it all teasingly but Angus didn’t need to know how earnestly he meant it. “At least my mage hand actually looked like, you know, a hand this time.”

They’re closing in on Angus’s house when he hunches his shoulders in, falling just a step behind Taako as if to hide. “Sir, you know what a lich is, right?”

Taako scoffs. “Do I know what a lich is?” he repeats. “Do I know what a ghost is? Do I know what a dead person is? Really, what kind of question is that?” Looking down at Angus, his brow is raised in a high arch. He’s as curious as he is insulted. Angus asks questions about everything but usually the segue is more obvious. “Not to harsh on your dreams, but you gotta be good at magic first if you wanna be one.”

Angus huffs, cheeks reddening considerably. “I don’t want to be one! It’s really hard and most of the time it doesn’t even work out right. I read that eighty-five percent of magic users who try to become liches end up falling apart and becoming these terrifying power-hungry zombie monsters!” He’s eying a house now, one of the stranger ones they pass on the way to his. He walks slower as they approach it. “The thing is… Mookie came over the other day and said a lich lives in that house.” He points, though Taako knows immediately which house. “He said the house used to be a morgue and the lich feeds off all the dead bodies still in the basement and that’s how it stays alive.”

Taako doesn’t hesitate for a second. “Mook’s right.” The house Angus points out was a morgue previously and a damn nice one at that. It’s beautiful as a house-Taako always thought a morgue should look less inviting so he appreciates this renovation. He wonders for a moment what it’s like inside, if there are any signs left of what it once was, and if the interior is as inviting as the exterior. “Definitely used to be a morgue and absolutely inhabited by a lich.”

“What?!” Angus squawks, his eyes comically wide behind his wider glasses. “My house is only three down from this one. I can’t live three doors down from a lich! You’re just pulling my leg, right sir? Nobody would actually live in a place that used to be a morgue, that’s just crazy.”

“Well, of course no one would live where a morgue used to be. That’s nuts! Just think of the ghosts and what kind of energy that place must be full of.” Taako gestures exaggeratedly with his hands as he speaks. “So who else would live there? It’s exactly where a lich would hide out!”

Taako stops once they’re directly in front of the house, turning sharply on his heel. He looks at Angus and breaks out into a wide smile. “Have you not seen who lives here? Because, come on wunderkind, it’s clear someone does. Swear on my life it’s a lich.”

“I haven’t seen anyone come in or out of that house,” Angus says. He has maybe definitely kept an eye on it. “I know someone lives there, though. I see the lights on sometimes and Mookie said that one of the girls in the class next to ours heard piano music coming from inside. Really creepy piano music.” Stopped in front of the house, he edges closer to the elf, clutching the straps of his backpack. “Aren’t liches against the law? Of nature, if not the city? How could one just be living in a house here?”

“The first rule of being a lich is that you don’t like, let anyone know what you are.” Taako is barely stifling his laughter. It’s been a good number of years since he’s so much as heard whispers of a lich sighting; rumors would get around quick if there was one thought to be in town. He’s never been known to turn down a good chance to goof on Angus, though. “The second rule: who cares about laws? Liches are all about giving the finger to the laws of the world by their very existence. I’m telling you, I can sense the energy. That lich is living real cozy on all that dead person energy. It’s a smorgasbord of good ol’ ghostly regrets and shit. Liches eat all that up.”

“Well this lich is really lousy considering my entire school knows they live here.” Angus looks up at Taako, lips pulled down in a tight frown, eyebrows pinched together. “And everyone knows a lousy lich is a dangerous one. They’re the ones that do all the evil stuff, like snatch boy detectives out of their beds at night to eat them or… or dissolve them into necromantic energy or whatever they do.” As he talks, he shifts his weight uneasily from foot to foot. “What... kind of energy are you sensing? I can’t sense anything, but maybe it’s because I’m not a very good wizard yet?”

“Necrotic energy,” Taako answers, waving the question away dismissively. He’s turned his attention from Angus back to the house, studying it. There’s a black car parked in the driveway but it’s too early in the day still to see if any lights are on in the house. “Maybe it’s not strong enough for you to sense. How’s about Taako ding dong ditch this bitch and we get a look at your neighborhood lich?”

“Nice rhyme, sir,” Angus says only to splutter immediately after, grabbing at Taako’s arm. “What?! No! He’ll see me and figure out where I live and then he’ll definitely make me his top priority to snatch! And I know you’re a strong wizard, sir, but what if he takes offense and wants to snatch you too?!”

“Glad to be appreciated.” Taako’s still smiling and pulls his arm from Angus’s grasp. Where did the kid even get all these ideas about liches snatching kids up from? They maybe need to talk about that at some point, once Taako figures out how to downplay a serious conversation. “If you’re really worried, just run and dive in the hedges next door. Liches have like, the worst perception.” Taako gives him an over the top thumbs-up before marching up the pathway to the front door.

Angus pulls his backpack high on his shoulders, knuckles white against the straps. He watches with wide eyes, muscles tense. He’s fretful by nature and it doesn’t help that the one consistent adult in his life has a penchant for getting into trouble. “You don’t know for sure,” he squeaks.

Taako’s hand is midway to the doorbell when the front door swings open. A man begins to step out only to half-stumble back into the doorway when he sees Taako. “Um, can I help you?”

“Woah there, Mad Max! What’s the hurry? Running from the ghosts?” Taako manages to blurt out, taking a step back in his own surprise at the door suddenly opening. He hadn’t intended to actually ring the doorbell, much less for anyone to actually be home despite the car in the driveway. And more than that, he’s a little surprised by the person in question. He’s dressed in a dark suit, thick black hair pulled back. He was easily taller than the elf with cheekbones to die for. There had to be something questionable about his life choices, Taako decided, because no one that handsome lived in a morgue.

“Ghosts?” the man repeats, looking back over his shoulder into his foyer. There’s nothing there except the door to his coat closet, a little dark wood table, and the decorative mirror that hangs over it. “Fresh out, I’m afraid,” he stammers before Taako’s already pressing on forward with the conversation.

“Sorry to bother you, my dude,” Taako says as he recovers himself, stretching an arm out to the door frame to lean casually. He drops his voice to talk softly. “Kid I’m watching was convinced a lich lived here and I said, Agnes, I’m gonna show you that they’re just another normal person like anyone else, just you wait and see. I’ll walk right up there and they’ll say how do you do, no problem. Can’t be held responsible for his nightmares with this due diligence, right?”

The man glances towards the street where Angus stands, looking more than a touch skittish. “I can assure you, I’m not a lich,” he says and there’s a laugh trying to bubble up under his words. “I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say normal, but definitely not a lich.”

“See, Agnes!” Taako glances over his shoulder Angus. “Not a lich, just some other kinda weirdo!” He doesn’t wait for Angus’s reaction before turning his attention back to the man. Honestly, he could be a lich for all Taako cares. He is tall, dark, and all kinds of handsome. “Not that I can make any claim to normality myself, but I’m no possible lich living in a morgue, either.”

“Sir!” Angus yelps and in a moment he’s gone from terrified to mortified. “You can’t just call someone you don’t know a weirdo to their face!”

The man seems to ignore both references to him being some kind of weirdo. “Not possible lich, either. I really don’t have enough magic in me for that even if I wanted to try.” He shifts a bit uncomfortably, clearing his throat. “Was there anything else I could help you gentlemen with today? I have an appointment and I don’t want to be late.”

“Nope, just doing our civic duty of lich hunting!” Taako steps back to let him out, heading back down the walkway towards the street after the man has locked up and turned back around. “Just don’t engage the kid. If he starts asking questions you’ll never shake him.”

“If I’m a lich does that make him a leech?” he asks.

Angus laughs, although it’s really more of a hysterical giggle, as he edges away from the vehicle he was standing by. “G-good one, sir!”

Taako’s laugh is more of a bark. “That’s exactly what he is,” he says, throwing an arm around Angus’s shoulder to give him a squeeze. “You catch on quick. I’ll get this leech off your back so you can go on your way.”

“So sorry to have bothered you, sir. I hope you have a pleasant day and your appointment goes well!” Angus adds, quickly turning to get them moving away from the house. They’re barely two feet before Taako pulls him to a halt.

“Hey!” Taako turns back, calling out to get the man’s attention. He pauses with his car door open, looking perplexed. “Let me get your name!”

“It’s Kravitz.”

“Taako, Angus.” Angus points to the correct person in conjunction with their names before turning and more or less dragging Taako with him. “Okay, introductions are done, time to go,” he says quietly. “Go time is now. Come on, sir!”

Taako lets Angus drag him along, if only because it really is clear that he should let the man go. “Catch ya later, Kravitz!” He turns with Angus, waving over his shoulder. He’s found himself another reason to walk Angus home it seems, because hoo boy does he love himself some eye candy.


	2. In Which Kravitz Sets a Date

With the upper two floors of his house completed, Kravitz is about as sick and tired as humanly possible of paint fumes and sawdust. Admittedly, it looks amazing, exactly how he imagined it, but he’s made the executive decision to put the basement renovations on hold until he’s finished the courtyards first. It’s starting to get warmer out, which makes it the perfect time to get started on the landscaping.

Of course, he has to research the different companies in the city and pick the best one, first; because if he can afford the best, he wants the best, and they have to be skilled enough to design multiple small courtyards in a house that was once a morgue. His lawn is pretty much non-existent, but the architects of the morgue left several areas built into the side of the building open and in the past they’d held small courtyards for families to sit and collect themselves. They’ve fallen into disrepair like the rest of the building had before he purchased it and with the rest of the house looking like something straight out of a magazine he needs the Gardens bit of Home and Garden.

According to Fantasy Yelp, Dirty Plants is the best landscaping business in the city, with a really impressive portfolio and the unique ability to do pretty much everything in house. They grow their own plants, design and build their own ornamentation and furniture, and design the landscaping themselves. It’s impressive and, honestly, he’s a fan of the one-stop-shop kind of deal, so he’d called and set up an appointment for a consultation. If he likes what they tell him, he’ll have them come by the house to look at the courtyards so they can give him a better estimate and their design ideas.

Dressed for work in a tailored suit, Kravitz finds himself at Dirty Plants exactly ten minutes before his appointment. A small bell rings overhead as he walks in and once he’s inside he looks around curiously. It’s a cute little front shop area with all sorts of lawn ornaments, wind chimes, bird houses, _bird feed_ , and a plethora of plants all set out in the little area. It looks like there’s more stuff behind all the rows of planters and flowers, but he’s not sure he should just wander back without prompting.

“Right with you!” a voice calls out from somewhere in the back of the store. Walking quickly out to the front, a dwarf with his hair in a bun and braids in his beard comes into view. He wipes his glasses with the edge of his bright floral Hawaiian print shirt as he moves. “You’re here for the consultation, right?”

“Ah, yes,” Kravitz says, straightening up from where he had been looking at some sort of lawn ornaments that look like some (very nice) hand blown glass orbs. “I’m Kravitz Malveaux. I had an appointment for a consultation at three to discuss something for my home.”

“Right, right, Malveaux,” the dwarf says, only just managing not to bumble through the surname. “Good to meet you. I’m Merle Highchurch, talked to you on the phone. Let’s see if we can’t get something started for you.” He walks towards a door off to the side of the entryway, pulling out a wad of twine holding a few keys together. He tries two before he gets the right one, unlocking the door and motioning Kravitz into the room.

“Kravitz is fine,” he offers helpfully while waiting for Merle to open the door. He’s aware that his surname is fancy and difficult in a way only French names can be and if it makes conversation a bit easier then he’s only too happy to waive formalities.

Stepping ahead of Merle into the office with a courteous nod of the head, he takes in the small room. There’s a beautiful rosewood desk with a matching pair of chairs for the customer and an old beast of an office chair behind it that Merle climbs into, putting him more or less at eye level. There’s no windows in the room, which accounts for the lack of plants, but bookshelves are stuffed with relevant books and a couple of file cabinets line the back wall. A laptop sits on the desk but Merle grabs a notepad and pencil instead.

“Done some work in your neighborhood before,” Merle says. “It’s a nice area. What kind of stuff you looking to have done?”

“The areas I’m needing worked on are a bit… unique, really, so I’m not sure where to even start.” He reaches into the inside pocket of his suit and produces a small stack of photos, handing them over to Merle. The photos show the two courtyards from several different angles, showing the decently sized spaces, surrounded on three sides by the white-painted brick of the outer walls of the house. “It’s a historic building I purchased from the city and it already had these courtyards built into it. They’d fallen into disrepair a long time before I bought it, so I haven’t a clue where to start.”

Merle mumbles a thanks as he accepts the photos and starts going through them. He fans them out on the desk in front of him, nodding to himself. He mutters something, eyes squinting at the images, but he doesn’t frown which seems like a good sign.

“They’re nice spaces,” he says, still studying the pictures. “I’ve worked with worse. You got any ideas what you want to do with them? Particular kind of plants, water features, furniture? Certain look you wanna go for?”

“Thank you,” Kravitz says, relieved that Merle doesn’t immediately dismiss the spaces as too small or awkward to be worth their while. It’s true that they’re just courtyards, but even small spaces can hold a lot of life and beauty. “Both of the areas are located on the central floor of my home. One of them is attached to the living room and one of them is connected to my office. For the one in my office, I’m thinking something more decorative; it doesn’t have to have any furniture, but maybe a water feature would be nice. There’s a large glass wall that separates my office from the courtyard so I’d like to have something nice to look at while I work. The one outside my living room… I’d like if it had seating of some kind, even if it’s just a bench.” He hopes it’s clear that he’s given this a lot of thought prior to their meeting. He didn’t want to come in with no ideas, leaving them to prod him with questions trying to figure out what he might like. “And I’d like if whatever plants were used were things I could take care of myself. I’ve never kept plants before, but I’ve always been interested in gardening as a hobby.”

“That all sounds doable,” Merle says while taking notes, hand scribbling quickly across the paper as Kravitz talks. He seems to perk up a bit when Kravitz mentions his interest in gardening. “I can absolutely set you up with plants you can take care of. Everyone could benefit from a bit of gardening.”

“I spend most of my time stuck indoors, so I’d like to take up a hobby that lets me be outside. I’d appreciate if you could take into account my complete lack of experience in the gardening department when making choices for me,” Kravitz says, pleased that Merle seems to approve of his interest in gardening instead of being scornful. Even as he said it, he worried how Merle would take to him making a passing hobby out of something he does for his livelihood.

He’s about to add on about what kind of plants he’s curious about when someone knocks on the frame of the office door. “Hey Merle, sorry to interrupt.” Boots clack on the concrete floor and a familiar elf passes into his field of vision. He’s wearing a denim vest over a floral shirt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and bracelets dangling from his wrists attracting attention to several rings on his hands. His jewelry is all floral themed, as well as the sandals he wears that are decorated with a single plastic daisy each. He flips his braid over his shoulder as he approaches the desk.

“I got a quick question about the-” Taako glances at Kravitz and stops mid-sentence. Kravitz can’t help looking like something of a deer in the headlights, almost gaping at Taako when he goes from wide eyed to grinning in about two seconds flat. “It’s Angus’s lich! Come to collect my soul for finding out your secret after all, my man? Or you more interested in, uh, shit, uh… lichen!” He laughs at his own bad joke and Merle can’t seem to help but let out a snort of amusement of his own.

“I have a name,” he insists, although he’s too amused by that terrible joke to sound too put out. “But no, I’m afraid your soul isn’t what I came here for. I didn’t even realize you were affiliated with this business. I’m here for a consultation for my courtyards.”

“Oh yeah! Today was the person from Angus’s street!” Taako pushes the untouched laptop out of his way, hopping up to perch on the desk. Noticing the photos still spread out, he snatches them up to look through. “We gonna do work in a morgue? Cause I’m gonna need to charge extra for every ghost I see.”

“You won’t be  _ in  _ the morgue, you’ll be outside it,” Kravitz says sensibly. “If the basement isn’t haunted, I highly doubt that the dead plants outside in the courtyard will be, so thankfully I won’t be out anything extra for that.”

“Cool, cool.” Taako nods, brushing that topic away flippantly. “Oh, and Krav? _Please_. Of course I remember your name.”

“You literally called me  _ lich _ when you came through the door which really doesn’t make me believe you remember my name.”

“Being a lich takes precedence over names.”

“See, it’s funny how little sense that makes, since I’m not a lich. I can’t even make a flame, that’s how bad off I am in the magic department.”

Taako laughs off Kravitz’s insistence that he’s not a lich and he wonders if this is just going to be a thing. Is his state of being just going to be in question every time he talks to the elf? That thought makes him pause. If he goes with Dirty Plants for his landscaping, how much will he be interacting with Taako? Taako, whose name he didn’t forget for a moment. Taako, who he had maybe spared more than a passing thought since their brief meeting.

“I see you two… know each other?” Merle says, eyebrows raised behind his glasses. “Taako does most of our layout and design work. But if working with him has you running out the door, I could offer a discount.” He punctuates his sentence by not-so-subtly shoving at Taako.

“I don’t know if I’d go quite so far as to say know, but we have made each other’s acquaintance.” Kravitz chuckles. “He isn’t going to break the deal, though. If his personal style is any indication of his work, I’d be missing out on the chance to have a truly spectacular garden by cutting him out of the picture.” It’s easier to compliment Taako when he’s pretending like the elf isn’t there, which is probably very classy.

“I’m digging your style, too,” Taako says, flopping across the desk so he’s more or less blocking Merle and Kravitz’s view of each other. Merle makes a disgruntled noise but it doesn’t dissuade Taako. It startles Kravitz, who can’t help thinking Taako looks like some kind of pin-up model flopped across the desk like that and that brief thought brings a flush to his face.

“These courtyards are precious,” Taako is saying, bringing Kravitz back from his thoughts. “I could design some real classy digs for them.”

“Do you have something in mind already?” he asks, trying to distract himself from the rather pretty picture the elf paints at the moment.

“You’ve gotta have this bench Magnus made not long ago, he just did it for funsies but it’ll look great against the white brick.”

“You interested in flowers or just general greenery?” Merle asks from behind the elf, the faint sounds of pencil on paper accompanying his voice.

“Oh, gotta have some flowers,” Taako says. “I’d love to put some blanket flowers out in one of the courtyards. Those’ll bring in some butterflies, too, if you’re into that.”

“I did mention wanting seating in one of the courtyards just before you came in, so it’s nice to hear that you agree.” He coughs to hide a laugh at hearing Merle’s deeper voice coming from behind Taako. “Both of those would be fine. I love flowers, though it always does make me a bit sad when they wither. And I’d love butterflies. Maybe some flowers that attract bees, too, if we can incorporate that into things?”

Taako startles, sitting up with a frown at Merle. The notepad is extended towards him, the pencil in Merle’s other hand held in a manner that suggests he had just used it to make Taako move. Unimpressed, Taako takes the notes from him.

Kravitz can’t hold back a slight smile when Taako sits back up. It’s cute that the owner of the business seems so used to Taako’s antics and that apparently he acts this way all the time and not just because he got caught in a kind of weird, awkward situation standing outside someone’s house.

“We’ll hook you up with some sweet perennials so you won’t have to suffer that heartbreak too badly,” Taako says.

“That would be lovely. I assume someone from your team would like to come by and take a look at the space in person? I understand it’s a bit different from what you usually work with, so I want you to have all the information before we get started.”

Taako’s eyes shine as he glances back at Merle. “We’ll need to, of course.”

“Well, this is gonna be your dog and pony show,” Merle says with a shrug. “If you feel like it. I can always go if you got some hot dates lined up.”

Taako gives an indignant snort at that, but doesn’t rise to what is clearly bait for some joke. “Has to be me, this’s gonna be my baby.” He sets aside the notes and photos, whipping out his phone.

Kravitz schools his face into an impassive expression, because he’s kind of excited Taako is agreeing to take on the project. He wasn’t sure who, exactly, he was hoping would come to his house for the tour of his courtyards. On the one hand, he desperately hoped it would be Merle or someone, anyone, besides the elf, because then he wouldn’t have to worry about embarrassing himself or stress cleaning the whole house in the middle of the night because he wants to make a good impression despite the fact that Taako would be in there for less than three minutes. On the other hand, he kind of really wants to see him more.

“I’ll look forward to working with you, then,” he says and a smile works its way to his face despite his best efforts. “I have a flexible schedule, so I can be free to meet you any time that’s most convenient for you.”

“Let’s see what I got open… mmm, hmmm.” Taako looks at his phone for a long moment, scrolling along. Kravitz wonders what all he has going on, if he does have hot dates lined up, and oh, that really isn’t any of his business and isn’t a train of thought he needs to be following. “Looks like sooner is better for me. What’s good for you?” Kravitz almost fumbles his own phone he was pulling out when Taako offers up a charming smile. 

“Afternoons and evenings are good for me,” he says. “I can go to work early and just plan to be done for the day when I need to meet you at the house. Would Thursday suit your schedule?”

“Thursday evening would be great.” Taako types something in his phone, pressing a few more buttons before looking up again. “Can I get your digits, my dude?”

Again with the almost fumbling his phone thing. It’s not like  _ that  _ even if the way Taako asks for his number sounds kind of like the way you might try and pick someone up at a bar, and Kravitz reminds himself that he did put his phone number on the contact sheet Merle should have. “Of course,” he says before rattling off his number. “Calling is fine, but sometimes I have my hands full and can’t get to the phone, so texting might be a better way to get ahold of me should you have the need and it doesn’t make you uncomfortable.” Honestly, he’s not sure if there’s anything that makes Taako uncomfortable.

Something in the way Taako is looking at him at that moment makes Kravitz want to squirm in his seat, but then Merle is clearing his throat, making the elf frown. 

“Under K for Krav, then,” he says, hopping off the desk. “I’ll hit you up on Thursday.”

“I appreciate very much that you didn’t put it under L for Lich, so I’ll accept the nickname,” Kravitz says, looking quietly pleased when it’s put in that context. Most people, even his family, call him by his full first name, so having it truncated is new and a little exciting. “I’ll look forward to it.”

Taako steps closer, offering his hand for a shake, and Kravitz stands to accept it.

“Good thing, since I’m pretty set on calling you that.” Taako’s handshake is firm, his hand softer than someone in his profession’s usually are. “I’m already looking forward to it.” He draws his hand away slowly, fingertips brushing against Kravitz’s palm. “Hopefully it’s all good and we can get this project rolling.”

Kravitz doesn’t immediately drop Taako’s hand either; how can he when Taako’s hands feel so surprisingly soft and warm against his own rough and cold ones? But just because he allows his own touch to linger doesn’t mean he’s expecting Taako to do the same and it makes him blush rather hard when the elf brushes his fingers over his palm in an almost-but-not-quite caress.

“Yeah,” Merle says with a cough. “ _ We _ look forward to working with you.”

“Um. Yes. Thank you for your time, both of you,” Kravitz says. He almost just turns around and walks out then, but that’d be a little too much like tucking his tail between his legs and fleeing, so instead he makes himself stay where he’s standing. “Is there anything else you need from me?”

“That should be all until Taako’s taken a look at the place,” Merle answers, sliding out of his own chair and stepping aside the desk. Under his breath he mutters something that sounds like elves needing self control.

“I’ll be in touch if anything is needed,” Taako adds in. Kravitz swats away the hope that Taako will be in touch soon. He’s going to be by later in the week as it is.

“Alright, thank you for making time to meet with me,” Kravitz says, giving a little bow before making his way out of the office. Taako trails after him, offering a call of “see you soon!” as he makes his way to the store’s front door. Kravitz nods his head and offers a wave before stepping outside.

He likes to think he’s above picking a place to do his landscaping because of who happens to work there, but apparently he absolutely fucking isn’t and finds himself very glad he decided to check out Dirty Plants instead of one of their competitors. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to run into Taako again, which would have been the worst kind of shame possible. No, instead he’s just going to remain stressed about impressing the elf for the rest of his natural life which is fine, completely fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to update at least twice a month? I really want to shoot for weekly, but since I'm rusty at this writing thing I don't want to make promises I don't know I can keep. So I'll see you in a week or two. Let me know what parts you like!


	3. In Which Taako meets Jenkins

_ yo krav its taako. you at work or home? cause im ready to turn up whenever youre ready for me _

Taako had shown great restraint in not texting Kravitz until Thursday. He had spent more than a little time with a new text to Kravitz open without typing anything, just thinking. He had wanted to talk to him but he didn’t want to seem too eager. So, he had spent his time trying to put together an outfit, and that had been a headache and a half. He’d left work early one day just so he’d have plenty of time to run around town to his usual haunts, dragging Ren with him. He’d shot down most of her suggestions, though she had found him a killer pair of shoes even if they didn’t suit the look he wanted for his not-date.

_ I’m at home, feel free to stop by at your leisure. _

Despite the build up, Taako is cool as a cucumber as he rings the doorbell to Kravitz’s house. He steps back slightly so he can see his reflection in a window, checking himself over. The trouble with taking the bus across town is not having reflections in store windows along the way to check himself out in, but there was no way he was going to walk across town in these heels. His legs look fucking good between the heels and his pencil skirt and that's worth the fact that he is definitely kicking them off the second he leaves Kravitz’s house later.

He wonders, as he waits, if he’s not dressed casually enough. True, he’d wear the outfit out and about normally, but Kravitz doesn’t know that. The tank top with a sheer top over is casual for him, and it does also send the message he’s going for, but is it too much for this occasion? He has put more time into this look than he usually does, though, and there’s certainly no going back now. He’ll just have to hope it’s not too much too soon.

When the door opens, Taako thinks for a moment that Kravitz might literally fall face forward and that look on his face as he takes in Taako is well worth every minute spent fussing over his outfit. He tries not to preen too much at the look, instead taking the chance to check Kravitz out in turn. He’s dressed down just slightly from their last two meeting, in a button-down and nice slacks, no tie or suit jacket. He looks good.

“Good afternoon,” Kravitz says, the first to break the silence. “Thank you for stopping by. If I could bring my courtyards to you to make things easier I would, but, um, I can’t. Uh. Please, come in.” He steps aside, gesturing for Taako to enter. “You look lovely, as usual.”

“Good afternoon,” Taako answers brightly, rewarding Kravitz’s awkward babbling with a laugh. It’s endearing. “And thank you!” He smoothes the back of his skirt as he steps through the doorway. “You would not believe how few compliments I get despite clearly deserving them. Not a problem you must have, looking at you.”

If he thought Kravitz was blushing before, there’s no doubt about the reddening of his cheeks now. “Um, thank you,” he stammers out as he shuts the door behind them. “Here, I’ll just show you the main courtyard first.” He quickly takes the lead, moving from the foyer into an immaculate living room, looking like something straight off of Fantasy HGTV. It’s certainly well-decorated and so clean that even Angus would allow the five-second-rule with food on the floor. Taako’s willing to bet it always looks like this, too, which means it doesn’t look lived in, and he kind of hates that. He doesn’t expect everyone to live like he does, but he figures a home should look lived in.

Kravitz opens a sliding glass door which opens to the courtyard. It’s the bigger of the two, decently sized despite being boxed in by the house and brick walls on three sides. Taako doesn’t hesitate in brushing past Kravitz to step outside, looking over the space. Imagining away all the dead plants, it’s a nice space. He can see it being easily made classy, but he wants to lean it towards cozy.

“When we were discussing things at the shop this was the one I was imagining having some seating in,” Kravitz says from the doorway, watching Taako.

“Yeah, that bench I mentioned would be real nice out here.” Taako nods, pulling out his phone to type some things in. The space will definitely need some color. He doesn’t know his plants as well as Merle, but he can imagine what shapes and colors will look good. “Get some real colorful plants, make it cozy as fuck. Get your own private little garden to sit and read shit in, chill with some bugs.”

“I’d definitely like to add some color to the space. I have a lot of white in my living room and it can kind of make the space feel washed out,” Kravitz agrees, smile widening at the mention of reading. “Very little would make me happier than sitting in my garden, reading, in the company of some very happy butterflies and bees. Maybe a spider or two.”

“Warm colors would be really nice,” Taako says, planting his hands on his hips. “Get something bright out here. You obviously need the color.” And if he’s thinking about what a nice scene Kravitz sitting out in a garden reading, enjoying some  _ bugs _ hanging out, makes then well, he’s not hurting anyone.

“Like reds and pinks and oranges? I think that would work. Maybe I could get some pillows or something in matching shades for the couch to bring some of the colors inside. Would you like to see the other one now?”

Taako whirls around. “Bringing some color inside sounds great. You got a real sterile environment going on in here,” he says as he steps back inside and moves to let Kravitz lead the way through the house.

“I’m not the most gifted in interior design, I’ll admit,” Kravitz says a bit sheepishly as he leads the way across the hall to his office. “I haven’t done much to change what the designers did, so it still feels a little spartan. The renovations just finished last month.”

“Should we do a consultation for interior design too?” Taako jokes. “Though really, you can’t just design a place to look lived in.”

“Maybe we could at least get it to look a little less sterile. My sister says it looks too much like a sample home on Fantasy HGTV.” Opening the door to his office, he reveals a room that seems much more lived in than the previous one. Bookshelves are stuffed with all sorts of literature and a large, solid cherry wood desk sits with a warm looking leather chair behind it. His laptop is open on the desk and an articulated skeleton wearing a top hat stands in a corner. Kravitz moves to the far side of the room by large floor to ceiling windows, opening a pane that pushes aside to lead into the courtyard. Taako would think it’s a sad state of affairs that it’s the office that looks so lived in if he weren’t immediately taken in by the skeleton.

“Woah boy! Buddy! My guy!” He goes straight for it, looking it over. It looks real enough and that should be weird but he’s just too tickled. “Is this fella real?” His eyes are bright as he glances back at Kravitz, smile all mischief. “You got yourself a fancy bag of bones hanging out in your office? Gonna explain this one away real easy, too? The house come with a pre-fab skelefamily?”

Rather than looking bothered by Taako’s reaction to the skeleton, Kravitz almost looks like he’s fighting a smile. “Yes, he’s real and actually, yes, he did come with the house. He was in one of the body drawers downstairs and since he’s part of the history of the morgue I didn’t feel right sending him anywhere else. So I articulated him and gave him a place of honor in my office. What kind of man would I be if I kicked a fellow out of his own home?”

“Of  _ course _ that’s the thing to do!” Taako wheezes with laughter, patting the skeleton’s arm. He’s thrilled that the skeleton is not just real, but was in the morgue beforehand. It’s so gross and the fact that Kravitz articulated and kept the skeleton is even creepier and he loves it. “That’s just what you do, you find a skeleton in your new house and you fix it right up and keep it around like some kinda Addams family roommate. That’s like, house buying one-oh-one or whatever, right?”

“I cleaned it first,” Kravitz says, and he’s smiling even though his cheeks are red again. “That’s the part they teach you in orientation, before you actually start house buying one-oh-one. If you find any skeletons in your house, absolutely clean and bleach the bones before you articulate them and display them in your office.”

Taako reaches up for the top hat the skeleton is wearing, taking it off to put it on himself when something Kravitz says clicks in his mind.  _ I cleaned it _ , he had said, not that he had it cleaned. “I don’t think I ever asked what you do for a living.”

It takes a moment before Kravitz, watching Taako with some fondness, registers the question. “Oh. I, ah. I own and run my family’s mortuary.”

Taako laughs again, delighted giggles escaping as he manages to balance the top hat on his head without messing up his hair. “You’re a mortician,” he says, and he’s trying for deadpan but his laughter is ruining it. “I am so not even slightly surprised. Like, everything is coming together now. The morgue house, the skeleton.” He’s careful as he takes the skeleton’s arm, draping it over his shoulder after turning to face Kravitz. “So I guess you could say all this,” he motions to the skeleton and around to the courtyard and house, “runs in the family?”

“I suppose you could say that,” Kravitz chuckles, clearly starting to get tickled the longer that Taako laughs. “My family’s mortuary has been here as long as the city has. It wasn’t my intent to take over, but life happens. I also didn’t intend to buy and live in a morgue, but it was the only building I was really interested in when I was looking at the market, so naturally it turned out to be a morgue and naturally it had a rather charming skeleton inside.”

Taako’s about to ask what makes a skeleton charming versus not, but the next thing Kravitz says is music to his ears.

“You can take a selfie with Jenkins if you’d like.”

Taako makes a noise of sheer delight. “Here you go, babe, you gotta have your hat back for this,” he says, leaning up to perch the hat back on the skeleton’s head. Even with his heels on, the skeleton is just tall enough for him to have to reach and it’s only with years of practice that he doesn’t stumble.

“So,” he goes on while pulling his phone out of a skirt pocket that it really shouldn’t be able to fit in (he’s magicked all his pockets, because sometimes purses are just a hassle), “do you at least like your job? I mean, I’d assume as much since you kind of totally have the whole mortician vibe going for you, but you know what they say about assuming.”

“It’s a living, no joke intended.” Kravitz shrugs. “I was actually going to be a musician but my father passed and I came home to run the family business. I enjoy it well enough; there are certainly worse things I could have ended up doing.”

Taako steps just in front of the skeleton, holding its arms around his shoulders with one hand while he holds his phone up with the other, trying to get the right angle to fit the skeleton in. He has to get a good photo because this one’s going on all the fantasy social media. There’s the tell-tale sound of the camera snap when he finally gets an angle he’s pleased with and then he’s letting go of the skeleton, careful in his handling of it. 

“That seriously fucking sucks,” he says as he turns around, smile fading into a somber expression. “Like, sure, it might not be the worst, but to lose someone and then have to give up what you want to do at the same time is the pits.”

“Someone had to do it,” he says, as if that’s all the answer that the statement needs given. “I appreciate that, though. It wasn’t an easy decision to make.”

Before the mood can completely sour, he steps outside into the smaller courtyard, motioning for Taako to follow him out. Taako is happy to let that topic fall, because hoo boy does he not do feelings. It sucks, and he sympathizes with Kravitz, but that is not a thing he talks about or thinks about any more than he can. Nope, he is ready to be all business again if that means avoiding that serious conversation.

“You sure there’s no ghosts out here?” he asks once they’re both outside. Much like the first courtyard, it’s clear no one has done anything since the place was up and running. He doesn’t even care about nature like Merle does and he thinks it’s a sorry sight. “Cause I am feeling all kinds of dead energy out here. I’m expecting your boy Jenkins to have a buddy start climbing out of the ground.”

“Maybe the ghosts of the poor plants that were once out here,” Kravitz says, looking a bit forlorn at the state of his courtyard. “They were in this state when I purchased this place, but my first priority was to make the main two floors livable before anything else, so unfortunately this had to take a back seat for the time being. If any of the neighborhood kids have seen these things, I’d understand why they think I’m a lich.”

“Probably too late to stop those rumors at the school,” Taako laughs as he looks at the space pensively. “But you can at least be a lich with a couple of nice courtyards. Put some… life back into this place.” His heart wants to go for a big, ostentatious centerpiece, but that is so not Kravitz’s style. “What do you want out here? Just something nice to look at and take care of? Just your typical garden, nothing in particular in mind?”

“Yeah, that’s about it. I work from home a third of the time, so it would be nice to have something visually appealing out there considering I share a glass wall with the thing. It’s just depressing to be in here right now.” He wrinkles his nose a little at the thought. “I’m open to suggestions, so long as it’s pretty.

“Not exactly the best view, no,” Taako agrees. He’d have filled the place with lawn ornaments, but to each his own. Color, at least, was something everyone could agree was needed. Color was something Taako was starting to think Kravitz needed in his life altogether. “I can give you pretty real easily. I’m thinking maybe some flowering vines, a fountain or small tree or maybe some kind of statue, like get a custom grim reaper made.”

“I’d thought about a fountain of some kind, but I was worried about it looking too tacky. If you think it would work, then I’m definitely happy to take your word for it.” A smile tugs at his lips. “If we’re going the fountain route, maybe a custom grip reaper who shoots water out the end of his scythe?"

“Now you’ve got the idea!” Taako gives an approving nod at the idea of the grim reaper fountain, grinning. “Don’t wanna go the crying skull route if you’re wanting to freak people out less, for sure. But okay, no, yeah, a fountain would be great, just gotta get the right thing. Not one of those tiered monstrosities people shouldn’t be allowed to install at their homes, something subtle up against the wall that matches the brick.”

“I’m not very fond of the tiered monstrosities myself, which is why I hesitated to bring up a fountain. I’m woefully uneducated in the design area, so I wasn’t sure what other options there were. Something against the wall sounds perfect.” He pauses, thinking something over, then offers a touch hesitantly, “Can I get you something to drink? I have water and juice and I think some soda.”

You’re always supposed to refuse these offers, Taako knows that much; it’s as unprofessional as it can be dangerous. But he finds Kravitz as threatening as a puppy and he’d already thrown professionalism to the wind the moment he made the appointment to come over. “A drink would be fantastic,” he says, motioning for Kravitz to lead the way in. “I’ll pick out some fountains to show you next time, find some that are tasteful as fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so back when my friend and i were roleplaying, i was drawing outfits that taako was going to wear, and i've got a bunch of those saved up. and i figured i'd share them! but i'm just going to share a link to where i'll be posting them, rather than posting the images in the fic. my taako doesn't have to be what you imagine when reading this fic, but his outfits do, sorry, these outfits are 100% canon to the story and you have to imagine taako wearing them one way or another :/ sorry, i don't make the rules
> 
> anyways, you can find my fashion taakos here, labeled for each chapter. i'll add more as i update: https://sta.sh/21qp1assl21e


	4. In Which Kravitz is Dazed

Kravitz leads them from the office back to the living room. There’s a large arched doorway at the back of the room that opens into the kitchen and dining space. A large picture window is where the table and chairs are situated, but most of the space is dominated by the literal restaurant-quality kitchen, all sleek metal appliances, warm granite countertops, custom designed cabinetry, the whole works. It had cost a small fortune, but his step-mother made this delighted cooing noise every time she came in, and even his sister and her wife would come over to cook dinner for him twice a week, so it was worth the investment in his opinion.

Taako’s jaw drops when he takes in the kitchen, eyes wide. He looks like a kid in a candy store. “Shit, look at this place! Didn’t skimp on a single thing in here!” Kravitz is visibly startled as Taako starts moving through the kitchen as if he’s in some kind of trance, checking out the oven and stove, running his hands greedily over the flawless marble of the countertops.

“Do you like cooking?” he asks, smiling fondly as he removes a water bottle for himself, only to hesitate when he realizes he doesn’t know what Taako wants. “What do you want to drink? I can see you’re about to crawl out of your skin, you want to snoop so badly, so go ahead. I’m not hiding any body parts in any of the cabinets, so let me know if you find any; I’ll have to have words with my sister.”

There’s a beat and then Taako’s shoulders slump slightly, the gleam in his eye dulling as he looks down to the floor. “Water,” he answers. An awkward silence falls while Kravitz grabs another bottle of water from the fridge before closing it, setting one on the island counter and keeping the other for himself.

“I used to be a bomb-ass chef.” Taako breaks the silence, taking the water bottle to pick at the label. “Cooking was like, the whole reason I even got up in the morning. I was gonna be the next Fantasy Emeril Lagasse, but shit broke bad and all that’s out the window like so much trash,” he says, laughing mirthlessly.

It's odd to see Taako just… deflate like that. Even though he hasn’t known the elf for very long he can tell by the way others deal with him that high energy no bullshit with a strange dash of optimism is the way he rolls. So the somber expression and mirthless laugh strike him as oddly vulnerable and he feels like the least qualified person in the world to offer comfort to anyone else. He’s just not good at it; hasn’t had nearly enough practice to be.

“That makes you uniquely qualified to understand the shitty feeling of having to give up doing what you really love for a living,” he says, his expression neither pitying or sympathetic, just soft, as if to show he’s listening to what’s being said without judgment. “It’s always a raw deal. I’m sorry things went south for you. You didn’t deserve that.”

Taako glances up at Kravitz out of the corner of his eye and for a moment the elf looks so very, very close to some kind of precipice of a breakdown. Wanting to give him a moment to collect himself, Kravitz checks his dishwasher as if to make sure it ran its cycle properly; he's not going to just stare at Taako like he's some alien.

The silence is broken by the sound of Taako cracking open his bottle of water. “Didn’t do a damn thing to deserve it,” he says, some levity returning to his tone. He takes a long swallow of his drink. “Not like I killed people or something, just boring old story about getting fucked over by a dirtbag.” He takes a smaller sip, leaning against the counter. “What about you and this music thing? You play some instruments still or anything?”

“I do, actually,” Kravitz says, not minding at all that Taako has shifted the subject away from something that so very clearly is still a raw wound. “Piano and guitar are my primary loves, but I can play several instruments besides those. I’m planning on turning the basement into a studio, so unfortunately my piano is still in storage while the renovations down there are yet to be finished.”

“You got me beat, I can only just carry a tune,” Taako says. He’s clearly trying not to show he’s impressed, but the slight rise of his eyebrows and quirk of his lips gives him away.

“I’m sure you can carry enough of a tune to sound lovely when you sing. Do you cook still?” he asks without thinking, because that’s maybe not a smart thing to ask, even if Taako had been rather candid in telling him that things ended on a sour note with his professional cooking career.

Taako hesitates and Kravitz worries that he’s stepping on toes. He’s about to take the question back when Taako answers. “I cook, but like, just enough to feed myself, nothing like I used to. A college kid with a hot plate could probably make something more impressive than the shit I cook now.”

“I understand. It took me… seven years before I even so much as looked at a sheet of music again,” Kravitz admits, making a face. “And even then, it was another year before I started playing in seriousness. Having music in my life again is still very much a new thing. It takes time, if it’s ever meant to happen again.” Hopefully he manages to land somewhere in the area of encouraging but not arrogant. Just because he was able to overcome his own issues with losing his career in music doesn’t mean Taako faces the same issues or will ever want to cook the same way again.

“It’s only been about three years, so maybe there’s hope for me yet,” Taako says, though he doesn’t sound like he believes it. Kravitz murmurs a “maybe” in agreement, trying to sound encouraging still, but is content to leave it at that. There’s no sense in lingering on it any longer, especially not when it puts that look on Taako’s face, like he’s being hunted and is seconds away from bolting. It makes his stomach tighten unpleasantly and although he knows intellectually that there’s nothing he can do, the emotional part of him wants to help somehow, in any way, if he can.

As another silence threatens to fall over them, a thought hits Kravitz. If Taako was tickled by the skeleton in his office, he knows something else that might bring his mood back up. “Speaking of my future studio,” he says, glancing from side to side, as if checking to see if some mysterious third party is listening before leaning forward, voice quiet. “Do you want to see the body drawers?”

Taako quirks an eyebrow when Kravitz looks around and leans in and then he’s fighting back a grin. “You are fucking with me, you do not still have body drawers in your house! Who lives in a house with body drawers? Like, this place was a functioning morgue! Those things have to be so gross!”

“Just like Jenkins, they’ve been bleached and cleaned,” Kravitz says sensibly, although he’s grinning rather unabashedly. “They’re a central fixture of the original building, how could I not keep them intact? All that _storage_ just built into the walls.”

“Now you are so not convincing me about this not being a lich thing, my dude. Every second I am here, I am so much more convinced.” Taako doesn’t sound put off, though; quite the opposite. He’s clearly fascinated with the idea of the body drawers. “Hell yes I want to see these bad boys.”

“I’ve made my peace with my state of being put into question at this point,” Kravitz sighs, heading out of the kitchen back into the living room. Down a small hallway with several doors he eventually opens the one at the end, turning on a light that illuminates the stairway. As soon as he opens the door, it’s clear that this part of the house isn’t finished-not even close. The walls are discolored with age and the stairs creak badly as Kravitz leads the way down. At the bottom, he leads the way through a few smaller rooms.

“I’m planning on opening all this space up. These were rooms for viewing the bodies and for waiting members of the deceased’s family,” he explains as he leads the way back.

“So this is where all the ghosts are gonna be hanging out,” Taako says. Taako walks a bit closer to him as they go, which flusters Kravitz. But it’s definitely understandable for Taako to be unnerved by the space and it’s not some kind of flirting. “You could throw one hell of a Halloween party down here.”

“It would be a terrible party,” he confesses. “Me, my sister and her wife, and Jenkins. We’d really let ourselves go.” He doesn’t really have friends and doesn’t really… _do_ social gatherings. That kind of makes parties a bummer.

“What?” Taako sounds truly offended. “You wouldn’t invite me to your spooky party? Jenkins would be devastated. I bet he’d invite me as his plus one.”

“Would you come if I invited you?” Kravitz asks and… wow, that sounded a lot more honest and vulnerable than he meant. They’re just talking about some dumb, hypothetical Halloween party, but he has to go and get his big dumb stupid crush involved. It sucks. It sucks because Taako is gorgeous, and funny, and apparently finds how creepy he is to be endearing and not the crippling blow that makes people decide that his good looks aren’t worth suffering through the literal skeleton in his office.

In the room at the end of the hall, he moves to the wall of drawers and indicates one about on eye level with him and therefore a little higher than Taako. “This is where I found Jenkins,” he says, probably needlessly, because scrawled on what looks like an ancient index card, in messy cursive writing, is the name ‘Jenkins’. “I don’t know anything besides that. All the records got cleared out of here, so I don’t know if that’s his first or last name, how he died, who he is, none of it. He’s just… Jenkins.”

Taako tilts his head back to look up at the drawer, steadying himself with a hand on Kravitz’s shoulder to look at the index card. “I love that you just use his real name. That’s just bonus creepy, my dude, like just, hanging out in your office with this skeleton that you know the real actual name of, that is a spooky thing you got going on.” He gives Kravitz’s shoulder a squeeze before standing properly again and letting go. “Of course I’d come to your party,” he answers, tilting his head to look up at Kravitz through thick lashes. “I’d much rather be invited by you than by boneboy there. Just met and he couldn’t keep his hands off me! Real classy guy.”

The joke loosens the knot in his throat and Kravitz is thankful for it; he really is too much of an open book for his own good. “I’ll have a word with him later about his manners.”

Taako looks thoughtfully at the drawers, something wicked creeping into his smile. He taps on the body drawer at his level, not moving from Kravitz’s side. “I bet you haven’t even used these for any sick photo ops. I’d shove Angus in here so fast.”

“Please don’t shove your… ward into one of these,” he says, not really sure what to call Angus since he’s pretty sure the boy isn’t Taako’s son, at least not in any biological or legal sense. “I don’t have the keys, so we’d be out of luck and he’d be stuck in there until the locksmith arrived.” It’s much easier to focus on the prospect of locking children into the body drawers than the fact that Taako is still so close to him, warm and smelling faintly of some warm, floral perfume that Kravitz really likes. It’s nice.

“Woah there! Ward is a bit of a strong word, carries some responsibility to it. I don’t know I’d call the kid my ward,” Taako says in a rush. “He’s just a nerd I’m helping with magic. I guess he’s my student if anything. But maybe not so great to potentially lock him in a body drawer. Now, Magnus or Merle…” He smirks and Kravitz doesn’t doubt he’s seriously considering a way to pull it off.

“Sorry, I was getting kind of a Batman and Robin vibe from you two, which is why I went with ward,” Kravitz explains, a little amused by how vehemently Taako denies any sort of responsibility for Angus. The two had seemed thick as thieves when he saw them outside his house and it’s sweet to know that the elf is teaching him or hanging out with him or whatever he wants to classify it as. “I don’t want your boss to sue me for wrongful endangerment on the job, so only as long as I can claim plausible deniability.”

“I’ll come up with a distraction for you.” Taako smirks and rolls his eyes. “Besides, it’s hardly endangerment when I can open the lock with magic.”

Kravitz can think of a few fun ways Taako could distract him, and while they’re mostly innocent thoughts (cooking, holding hands, and if he’s allowed to be racy, kissing), it’s still enough to make his ears go pink. “I think he could still win a lawsuit since it’s my fault he ended up in that situation to begin with.”

It’s only because he’s paying such close attention to Taako that he notices him bite his lip as he replies. “Depending on how I’ve distracted you, I think he might find out and forget all about that nasty body drawer business in favor of being the busybody he is.”

Now it’s not just his ears that are red, but his cheeks as well. But somehow Kravitz doesn’t immediately back up from where he and Taako are still standing so close together. “Well, even if he didn’t… depending on how you distracted me, it would be worth the lawsuit,” he says, voice hushed and a little shy.

Taako tilts his head as he looks up at Kravitz, smile sweet and voice a soft promise of illicit suggestion. “Oh, I could make it worth a lawsuit.”

Kravitz is having more than a little trouble focusing on the subject at hand, especially when Taako is flirting with him like that, giving him this absolutely heart-stopping smile and speaking words that practically drip seduction. It’s a little much for him to drink in, but it’s definitely worth it since it’s directed at him. “I have little doubt of that,” he says, biting his lip and steeling himself. “But I… feel as if I should take you to dinner first.”

Taako’s smile widens. “Whatever you wanna do, my man,” he says in the same tone of voice. “Dinner, coffee, whatever you feel’s right. I’m up for any and all activities with you.”

The relief Kravitz feels at not being immediately shot down, told he’s being too forward, or that he misunderstood things, is almost palpable. Honestly, it’s almost enough to make him a little weak at the knees, especially when Taako’s smile only widens at his invitation. “What about dessert?” he asks. “There’s a little restaurant I frequent that does amazing chocolate fondue that’s good with coffee.”

“Oh, fondue!” Taako’s tone lightens up, and he nearly smacks Kravitz with his enthusiastic gesture, because wow, really, when did they get this close? “I love some good chocolate fondue, hell yeah.”

“I’d be happy to treat you, then,” Kravitz says with a genuine smile, although his expression is a bit flustered after his attention is drawn to how close they are. But… Taako doesn’t say anything about it nor does he back up or push him away, so he’d like to think that it means their closeness is welcome.

Batting his eyelashes in a way that’s both comical and incredibly endearing and attractive, Taako presses a hand against Kravitz’s chest. “Ooh, Krav,” he says. “Your treat on the first date? I must have really made an impression on you.”

Kravitz feels his heart stutter at the hand on his chest. “You have,” he admits honestly, unconsciously leaning in a little closer as he speaks, as if the hand that’s touching him is drawing him inexorably nearer to its owner. “I’ve never met anyone like you, Taako. I’m quite enchanted.”

“And I didn’t even have to use a charm person spell,” Taako laughs, but a blush has crept across his face at Kravitz’s words. “One of a kind, that’s the Taako guarantee.” He almost seems to hesitate before sliding his hand from Kravitz’s chest to his shoulder, his other hand following suit. “I gotta say, it’s been a while since anyone’s had my attention like you do.”

Kravitz looks positively side-swept by this information, his eyes going a little wide. “I…” He smiles, self-conscious but so pleased. “Really?” It’s not as if he’s unaware of how gifted he is in the looks department, it’s just that he’s a weird loner who articulated a skeleton found in the body drawers of his morgue house. He’s weird, and he knows he’s weird, and he’d kind of figured whatever allure he might have had initially would be well and truly dead at this point. “This isn’t enough to scare you off?” he asks, kind of distractedly gesturing at the room they’re in, but being careful to make the movement small so Taako’s hands aren’t dislodged from his shoulders. The contact feels lovely.

“Puh-lease.” Taako rolls his eyes and leans into Kravitz. “It might be creepy if you, like, tried to be all secretive about it or something, but I don’t think you could pull that off if you tried. Some lich you’d make.”

Kravitz can’t help but laugh, reaching up to brush an errant strand of hair behind one of Taako’s pointed ears. “It’s hard. I know there are some things that aren’t exactly good conversation in polite company, but my sister and I literally grew up in a funeral home, playing tag in the cemetery, putting flowers on all the graves that looked lonely. It was never weird to us until people started telling us it was weird.” And even then, it hadn’t changed them much; they were homeschooled for elementary school, so by the time he had started sixth grade, Kravitz and Sloane had both embraced that side of themselves a little too vehemently to change it just because of peer pressure. “So I’m glad that it doesn’t disgust you or weird you out.”

“Oh, it’s pretty weird, don’t get me wrong.” Taako grins. A little shiver runs down his spine at the light touch at his ear. “But, uh, have you met me? Polite company?” He snickers. “You’re not grossing me out unless next you’re gonna tell me you explored your sexuality with corpses or something.”

“Oh, good god, no,” Kravitz says, looking like he’d just eaten an entire lemon. “I’m guessing you’ve never seen a corpse before. There isn’t anything even slightly attractive about them.” Even realizing Taako is kidding, it’s a disgusting thought. He distracts himself with lightly brushing his fingers over Taako’s ear again, enjoying the way the elf shuddered at the brief, accidental contact before.

“Can’t say I’ve had as much experience with corpses as you.” Taako’s eyes flutter closed at the touch, giving a soft hum of approval. “Sure you don’t wanna make that date of ours sooner?” he asks, slipping his hands to the nape of Kravitz's neck to play with soft curls there.

The stroke of Taako’s hands over the back of his neck sends a very telling shiver down his spine, one that the elf can probably feel considering how close they are. It sounds like he's rather eager and Kravitz has to admit he feels the same way. “I could be persuaded to make it a ‘dinner is just in a few hours’ date,” he says, voice low and intimate.

“Let me try and persuade, then,” Taako murmurs. In the blink of an eye he’s pushing Kravitz back against the wall, pressing their bodies together. He’s half on tip-toe, pulling Kravitz down to meet him for a kiss that’s as hot and heavy as it is needy. 

Kravitz is thrilled that Taako accepts his offer so readily and then is completely surprised when he’s immediately pressed against the wall. Sure, he’d been entertaining the fantasy of exactly that happening, but it’s still not something he’s exactly prepared for, which leaves him unfortunately unable to kiss back for a precious few seconds. But Taako takes advantage of that and manhandles him down to make up for their height difference, and he’s warm and soft and smells so very, very nice. His arms wrap around Taako’s waist and he kisses back enthusiastically as soon as he’s able, every bit as hot and needy.

Taako gives a soft noise of approval at the arms around his waist. Though Kravitz is solid in every way that Taako is soft, he’s pliant under Taako’s guidance. Above everything else, he wants his partner to be comfortable, and currently Taako seems more than comfortable to take the lead, kissing him thoroughly, one hand adventuring beneath the collar of his shirt to further explore the smooth skin of his neck. It all makes him feel a little lightheaded, but in the absolute best way possible, and it encourages him to kiss back harder, to incorporate his tongue into it, to tug Taako just that little bit closer using the arms around his waist.

Eventually, because he is in fact not a lich, Kravitz has to draw back to get some air in his lungs, and he’s looking a little frazzled, a little ruffled, but also definitely pleased. “Well,” he says, clearly at a loss for what to do now that he’s had the breath kissed out of him by such an amazing elf. “I’ll admit, this isn’t what I was imagining would happen when I decided to hire a landscaper, but I can’t say that I’m complaining.”

“You’d be insulting me if you complained,” Taako says with a breathless laugh, leaning against him. “I’ll admit, I didn’t think I’d be kissing you in what is easily the creepiest part of your house, but it’s kind of hot in a last-place-you’d-think-to-make-out-in way.” He leans up, pressing a kiss to the corner of his lips. “Would definitely not be hot if there were, you know, any bodies down here still.”

It makes Kravitz tingle all over in the most pleasant way to hear Taako is also as happy about the turn things have taken, remaining pressed close to him as he speaks. “I’ll have to make sure not to run you off. I think you’re the only person on the planet who isn’t some kind of creep who would find anything alluring about this.” He savors how close the elf is and when he presses a kiss to the corner of his lips it’s enough to make him smile. “There’s no bodies here except for you and I, and the last time I checked we were both alive and kicking.”

Taako gives a contemplative hum at Kravitz’s words and then he’s moving his lips to his neck, finding his pulse to press his lips to. “Mm, yes,” he says against the soft skin. “Got a live one here.”

Kravitz nearly jumps out of his skin when Taako presses his lips to his neck, right over where his pulse is hammering away like he’s just run a marathon. It’s embarrassing, because of course Taako will be able to tell that he’s close to cardiac arrest at this point, but mostly it just feels wonderful and he hopes he smells alright. “Good, I was, um, worried,” he says in a slightly strangled voice. “Not sure how long that’s going to continue to be a thing though if, uh, if you keep doing that.”

Taako chuckles against his skin. “Sorry,” he says as he draws his head away, but there’s nothing apologetic in his voice, even as he feigns sheepishness. “Just had to check for myself.”

“No need to apologize, it’s just, well, it’s been a while.” Kravitz looks embarrassed, but it isn’t like he’s gotten laid since he was a young hot musician. Morticians aren’t exactly at the top of most people’s lists, after all. “We should go back upstairs.”

Taako slides away, dragging his hands over Kravitz’s shoulders and back down to his chest. “In the interest of full disclosure, my dude, it’s been a bit for me, too,” he says, smoothing Kravitz’s shirt before slowly pulling away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have i mentioned how completely self-indulgent this whole fic is going to be, because now's as good a time as any to mention that
> 
> i'mmmm trying not to post everything i have all at once, though i want to, because i'm trying to stay ahead of myself. but like, i wanna finish posting this whole scene that i broke up into parts so. posting the next chapter before the month is out. and then things might slow down if i can show impulse control. 
> 
> again, check out taako's sweet digs (and a bonus krav i dug up) here: https://sta.sh/2umossm2wxr


	5. In Which Taako Gets That Date

Dinner is at the kind of restaurant Taako’s only seen in movies. It’s a small place but the heart and money is there. The table has real cloth tablecloths and napkins, the tables are set just far apart enough to provide privacy without sacrificing space, and the lighting is low and warm. Taako and Kravitz sit across from each other at a table for two, a candle lit for ambiance in the center. 

“Thanks for letting me borrow a jacket,” Taako says, pulling the worn leather around him against the slight chill of air conditioning on an already chilly evening. “Wouldn’t have guessed you’d have something like this. Figured I’d have to rock a suit jacket or something equally stuffy.”

“It is from when I was younger, but I dress down in my off time,” Kravitz says with something of a put-upon look. “Do I really seem stuffy?”

“Kind of look that way usually.” Taako shrugs, flipping the menu over to the wine selection. Kravitz can be alarmingly cute making faces like that; Taako’s gotta keep his guard up. “But you’re chill once you loosen up. You mind if I pick the wine?”

“Be my guest. I trust your judgment.”

Taking into consideration that they had both chosen a pasta with a cream sauce, Taako chooses a simple white wine that he was familiar with. Kravitz compliments his choice, which was a good sign in Taako’s book; most of the people who call themselves his friends don’t know a Merlot from a Riesling. 

“Speaking of wine,” Taako says once their orders have been taken. “You had some nice stuff in your kitchen. We talked about my cooking, but what about you?”

“Oh, I don’t really cook,” Kravitz admits sheepishly. “I get by well enough on my own, but most of that is because my sister and her wife come by a couple times a week to cook. The kitchen is for them, more or less. They live in Sloane’s childhood home, and it’s a nice house, but the kitchen is a little old fashioned.”

Taako thinks about the pathetic excuse for a kitchenette in his own apartment, how there’s barely space for one person to be cooking in it. Then he thinks back to Kravitz’s kitchen. It’s easily the nicest kitchen he’s seen in a home, which almost grates on his nerves since Kravitz doesn’t cook. The gears in his mind have been turning since he walked in there, pulling up all the things he could make that his kitchen would never allow.

He covers up his pause by taking a long sip of water. Even if he did cook it’s not like he could just commandeer the kitchen of someone he’s just met. “Glad someone is using it. Criminal to have a kitchen like that and not put it to use. Your sister needs to teach you a thing or two.”

Kravitz traces a finger along the condensation on his own glass of water. “I think I’d rather have you teach me,” he says, voice hesitant. “If you ever want to, that is. I’d much rather spend my time learning to cook from you than my sister.”

Taako hums thoughtfully, tapping his fingers against his chin. “I’ve never taught anyone to cook before,” he says slowly, like he’s considering it. And he is considering it, a little. He never thought he’d be teaching some kid magic, but he's enjoying that well enough, why not cooking too? Why not add an extra chance for things catching on fire in his life?

“You’re gonna have to sweeten the pot for ol Taako.” He looks up at Kravitz with a small smile. “I don’t do anything for free, my man. As much as I am dying to work my magic in that kitchen, I’m not working with a novice for nothing.”

Eyes lighting up, Kravitz responds a little too eagerly. “I’ll pay for the ingredients, as well as provide wine suited to match.” He pauses and smiles in return. “And there will be my wonderful company, as well?”

Taako hides the way his smile widens with another sip of water. How’s he supposed to say no to that eagerness? Kravitz seems so thrilled at the idea, he can’t just outright shoot him down. And it would be a nice excuse to spend more time with him. “I’ll think about it.” He smirks. “Though I take charge in the kitchen. Don’t expect me to go easy on you just because we’ve been getting our mack on.”

Kravitz blushes brightly at that, stammering. Their waiter brings their wine at that moment, pouring their glasses, and Taako tastes it and pronounces it good. It’s enough time that Kravitz seems to have composed himself to respond.

“I would expect nothing less. I’m a competent sous chef, it’s just the actual putting everything together bit that I don’t particularly excel at,” he admits, giving the wine in his glass a little swirl. “Thinking about it is all I can ask of you, so thank you.”

“If I don’t have to worry about you cutting a finger off, that’s a great start.” Taako sits up straight, giving a little huff. “Started teaching Ango magic and he’s all, ‘well sir I understand the theoreticals of everything’,” he says, mocking Angus’s voice. “As if that’s what really matters if you can’t do even the most basic cantrips.”

“Well, I can say with absolute certainty that I know more about cooking than I do about cantrips.” Kravitz makes a face. “I never particularly excelled in my studies in that area.”

“So that’s magic and cooking you’re not great at,” Taako says, holding up one finger then another like he’s counting. “You already know my digs pretty much, but what do you got going on besides probably being some kind of musical Einstein and hanging out with the dead?”

“I… I’m not sure what you mean,” Kravitz says. The way his look changes to curiosity and something a little guarded has Taako ready to backtrack even before he knows what’s wrong. “Are you asking what other things I enjoy and am good at? Or are you asking what other things sell me as a potential partner?”

Taako nearly chokes on his wine, covering his mouth as he coughs and clears his throat. “Woah there, kemosabe, Taako doesn’t do that whole - that, like - sizing people up thing like that!” He’s quick to clarify, relieved it’s just a misunderstanding that put Kravitz on guard. “I’m just asking what you’re into, yeah, what you enjoy. Trashy magazines, long walks on the beach, that kind of shit.”

Kravitz bursts into laughter, relief rolling off him in a wave. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to almost kill you,” he chuckles. “I really enjoy reading, particularly sci-fi, and I’ll admit that I watch a lot of Fantasy Netflix. I enjoy trying whatever weird food I can get my hands on and my sister is always going to these weird out of the way grocery stores and bringing me back things to sample. I really like rainy days, too, as long as I don’t have to go outside in them.” He folds his arms on the table, fixing his gaze on Taako intently. “You have to tell me things now.”

Taako is happy to listen to Kravitz go on about himself. He’s a little excited to learn he’s adventurous with food; there’s a big difference between people like himself, who enjoys trying new things, versus too many people in his life who will eat just about anything that smells edible. He could work some culinary dark magic and make fried chicken macarons and Magnus and Carey would probably shovel them down without a thought.

“Me?” He sounds surprised, having temporarily gotten lost in thought about recipes of his family’s that he bets Kravitz had never eaten anything like before. “Hmm, what about me? Let’s see…” He fidgets a little under the intensity of Kravitz’s gaze, muttering to himself. “Got the magic… landscaping… cooking, wine… you can probably guess I’m into fashion…” He shrugs. “I love reality shows? Like Fantasy The Bachelor and Faerun’s Next Top Model.” He pauses, hesitant. “Don’t really talk about it, but I go fishing sometimes.”

“You definitely have an eye for fashion,” Kravitz agrees, eyeing the outfit that Taako is wearing appreciatively. It was still early enough in the season for the evenings to be chilly and Kravitz had insisted on loaning Taako a jacket before they left his house. He had let the elf have free choice from his coat closet and he had come out with an old worn leather jacket that Kravitz had nearly forgotten he owned. Taako still wore it now in the restaurant and it works seamlessly with his outfit.

“I love those shows, too,” he says. “I’m not up to date with Faerun’s Next Top Model, but I just finished marathoning The Great Faerun Bake Off and it was spectacular.” A smile crosses his face. “Fishing sounds relaxing, but I must admit, it’s not something I’d picture you doing.”

Taako preens when Kravitz compliments his fashion, smoothing his shirt before adjusting the jacket, cozy in the borrowed item. “I would kick ass on The Great Faerun Bake Off. I don’t know what some of those people are even doing there in the first place.” His tone is only a little boastful, like he’s bragging about something that’s just a matter of fact. “Fishing is great, though! Real meditative stuff. The preparation's not pretty, but there’s nothing like cooking up some fresh fish.”

“I’d have to try some of your baking before I could say for sure if you would kick ass on there.” His tone is light and teasing and it’s clear he doesn’t want Taako to feel obligated to cook or bake for him. “I don’t know how well I’d do with the cleaning fish and stuff, honestly. Just thinking about it makes me a little squeamish.”

Taako laughs when Kravitz says it makes him squeamish. It’s hilarious considering he regularly scoops the organs out of human beings. “Are you kidding me? You do I don’t even want to know what with dead bodies, scooping their guts and junk out, and a little fish gunk bothers you?” He’s laughing still, like this is the best joke he’s heard in days. “There’s not even like, half as much blood and guts to deal with! You’re so weird!” He punctuates this last line by reaching over to lightly shove at Kravitz’s shoulder; he’s serious in the declaration, but he isn’t trying to be mean-spirited about it.

“I’m not having to eat the people!” Kravitz protests, laughing when Taako pushes at his shoulder. “There’s a specific room in a specific building where I do that sort of thing for work, it’s not something that’s meant to be pleasurable like eating is. It’s very easy to divorce myself from what it is I’m doing.”

“And there’s a specific place where you clean the fish versus where you eat it,” Taako reasons, throwing his hands up like he’s given up. “Here I was thinking if I taught you that at least I wouldn’t have to deal with some wimp who can’t handle some of the grosser aspects, but noooo. Does it bother you if your food looks back at you, too? Can Mr. Weird Food not do fish head?”

“My kitchen and dining room are the same room,” Kravitz points out with a hint of a smirk. “That doesn’t bother me, though. I eat dried anchovies with the heads on, fried shrimp heads, that’s all fine. It’s…” Sighing, he makes a face, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. “It’s just too much like what I do for work. Like you said, I pull the guts out of people on a near daily basis. Performing those actions on something and then eating it? My brain starts thinking of cannibalism.”

Taako considers this, sipping at his wine. He’s not rewarding that first comment about the dining room with a response, the smart ass. “Well, that makes sense. Wouldn’t want to ruin your appetite for something because you’re thinking of corpses. I’ll mark that off the lesson list.”

He hastily adds, “If I decide to teach you, of course.” 

Because of course he’s pretty much decided he’s going to give it a go. Worst comes to worst he’ll have a break down and never be able to face Kravitz again; he figures the man is bound to get tired of him at some point anyways, so what’s it matter the specifics of when and why.

“Yes, especially since I’m trying very hard to make a good impression. Throwing up and then maybe passing out aren’t very conducive to that end,” Kravitz sighs forlornly. Of course, Taako isn’t fast enough to add his addendum before Kravitz realizes what he’s said and begins to smile. “Oh, of course, we haven’t decided yet. But if you do, it’s good to know that we won’t be including that.”

“That’s right we haven’t decided yet,” Taako says more decisively. He’s distracted from thoughts about cooking by Kravitz’s comment about trying hard to make a good impression, though. When was the last time someone put effort into impressing him? Especially someone completely out of his league like Kravitz. “Making a good impression will help that decision. You’re doing pretty well so far, handsome. Skeletons, body drawers, fancy dinner with wine, you’ve pulled out all the stops.”

Kravitz flushes a little and Taako thinks he won’t get tired of that sight any time soon. 

“I don’t let just anyone see the body drawers,” he says seriously. “I think Sloane is the only other person who’s seen and she didn’t last thirty seconds. She thought it was creepy as hell and I’m lucky she even comes over to feed me.”

“Your sister. The one you ran around in graveyards with?” Taako sounds doubtful. “I mean, for sure, the basement is creepsville, but Wednesday Addams couldn’t take it?” He’s kind of built up this idea of Kravitz’s family in his head: a little offbeat in their comfort with death and corpses and occupying the same space as them. It’s ridiculous to think a member of his family wouldn’t find themselves right at home in the morgue-turned-house.

“Yeah, that’s Sloane,” Kravitz chuckles, the expression on his face undeniably fond. “She doesn’t mind the ones at our family’s mortuary, but the fact that these were just abandoned, that there was apparently a body in one of them that rotted down to nothing but bones, it doesn’t sit right with her. She and her mom are more spiritual and, well, superstitious. I’m pretty sure the only reason they don’t have the house blessed is because neither has had the time to hunt someone down.”

“See! See!” Taako points at Kravitz accusatorially. “I told you that place was messed up. Even your family can tell. You’re gonna start renovating downstairs and that’s gonna release all the ghosts and then your place is gonna be haunted as fuck, just crawling with ghosts. She’s gonna come over one day and you’re going to have to look her in the eye and tell her there are approximately a shit ton of ghosts in this place.” He makes a show of rubbing his arms like he’s cold. “Gives me the chills just thinking about having been in there.”

Kravitz just gives Taako A Look. “I’m not a necromancer, but I have enough magic to be able to say with full and absolute certainty that there isn’t a ghost anywhere inside my house.” The statement starts seriously, but he seems to lose his ability to be no-nonsense when Taako starts pointing at him so accusingly. “Do you actually want to be a ghost hunter or something? You talk so much about ghosts, liches, and the like.”

Taako returns the Look when Kravitz asks if he wants to be a ghost hunter. “No thank you,” he says with a derisive sniff. “Well, I mean, if the gig paid, I wouldn’t turn it down, but I’ve seen ghost hunters, they aren’t exactly living it up. That is a labor of love that I have no affection towards. But come on, you go somewhere with a spooky history, you think of those things.” He shrugs. “And the lich thing wasn’t me, I was just going with the information I had.”

“Ah, right, the schoolyard rumors. I would follow that information, too,” Kravitz teases. He laughs when Taako gives him another unimpressed look. “You mentioned you were teaching… Angus, was it? What kind of magic?”

“Transmutation, but I dabble in other things. I’m kind of just teaching Angus the basics.” Taako hides that he’s impressed Kravitz remembered Angus’s name. He knew the three had a strange meeting, but he didn’t expect Kravitz to pay them much mind after it was over. 

“Oh, that’s impressive. It’s not an easy area to work in from my understanding.” Kravitz seems genuinely impressed and Taako takes that to heart. He doesn’t do a lot with his magic, so he doesn’t tend to bring it up with anyone, much less have them impressed just to learn what his focus is. He kind of wants to show off a little, but it’s hardly the place for it. 

“So how did you come to teach Angus, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Taako should have seen that question coming next. He taps his nails against the table, trying to decide whether he should go for the long or short version of the story. “Well, short story is I tried to run a con on a kid and he outplayed me,” Taako says. His expression is grave, voice pitched like this is still an annoyance weighing on him. It’s the look of concern on Kravitz’s face that makes him crack a smile. “Aw dude, don’t be making that face. It’s actually funny as shit, let me tell you.” 

He takes a couple bites of his pasta, sipping at his wine, before starting. Kravitz seems like an avid listener, like he won’t interrupt for a million questions, so he’s ready to just launch straight into the story. 

“So, not proud of it, but I used to shoplift a little here and there. Taako’s gotta keep himself looking good and sometimes that goes over budget, yeah?” Kravitz gives a slight frown, but it’s not judgmental. “Yeah, yeah, come on, we all do stupid things. I haven’t done it in years.”

“Anyways, so one day I’m in… this is where you can judge me. I was shoplifting cheap jewelry from the Fantasy Target.” He pronounced “target” like “tarjay”, earning him a chuckle. “I’m casually looking through the jewelry while snapping tags off when this kid comes up to me. ‘Sir, you know you aren’t supposed to remove the tags until you’ve bought the items, right?’ and I’m rolling my eyes, because what’s some nosy brat going to do? Only he keeps on lecturing me and then I see these two humans coming towards us, looking mad as hell, but they’re not even looking at me, they’re looking at Angus.”

"Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t like kids, but I don’t hate them. Sob story for date fifty, Taako had a rough childhood.”

“Fifty?” Kravitz repeats softly, smiling. “That’s a bit in the future.”

“Hey, we’re only on date number one and you’re already doing great, no pressure,” Taako assures him with a grin. “Anyways, now I’m not thinking about the shoplifting anymore at that point, I’m already thinking about how I’m gonna get this kid out of whatever trouble he’s in, probably just for running off from his parents in the first place, yeah? Well, they’re pissed, I guess he went up to people like that frequently, and they’re clearly tired of it. At this point, I don’t care if Angus is going to rat me out, I just don’t want this dumb kid to get in trouble because he was trying to do what he thought was right.”

"I thought this next move was genius. So get this. I pull out this old receipt in my purse, but before they can see it I’ve cast an illusion spell so it looks like a business card for Taako’s Magick Tutoring. Before anyone else can get a word out, I’m giving a whole spiel about my classes and how I knew right away when I saw this kid that he was a natural and, please, take my business card, if you don’t have him in classes already then I come highly recommended. Just keep going, don’t let a word in edgewise, until they’re so bewildered they’ve forgotten what they were even mad about. Boom, that’s some magic.” He pauses, letting Kravitz silently applaud him.

“That was very kind of you,” he says. “Did you steal the jewelry?”

Taako rolls his eyes. “That is so not the point. Yes, I stole some jewelry, but my thieving ways are behind me, scout’s honor.” At least, his shoplifting days are over; the sheer number of things he’s borrowed from friends and never returned says otherwise about his potential thievery. “Do you want to hear how I got played?”

Kravitz laughs when it’s put that way. “I imagine it takes a bit to pull one over on you, so please, do tell.”

“Unfortunately, I didn’t realize the kid was smart as a whip. Listen, I thought kids were annoying, but they are so much worse when they’re too smart for their own good. I was in a hurry with that business card illusion, so even though the illusion only lasted an hour, I had stupidly put my real contact info on it. Mistake numero uno. Mistake numero dos was figuring they’d just throw it out in the trash. Nope, get this: Angus gets his grubby mits on it and writes the information down and I get a call days later from him, thanking me for getting him out of trouble but chiding me again for shoplifting. And now he’s got my personal information, he says, so I can’t do anything bad anymore or he can let the police know and I don’t have it in my heart to tell him that they won’t give a damn unless they catch me at it and they’re gonna laugh at a kid coming in with this information anyways. Now everyone thinks he blackmailed me into giving him magic lessons and that at this point I’m just humoring him.”

Taako stops, words hanging in the air. Kravitz waits patiently, expecting him to continue. When he doesn't, he just says softly, “Taako?”

“Ugh, hang on.” Taako finishes off his glass of wine in one gulp and then refills his glass. “Since I already told you I’m soft for kids in trouble, I’ll just say, I thought about how his parents had acted and offered to teach him magic for real, said he could make sure I was keeping out of trouble that way. I didn’t hear from him again for a while, because turns out he's a foster kid and switched families, but one day I got a call from his new foster mom and she wanted me to teach him and…” Taako shrugged. “I guess I was feeling real sentimental or some shit that day, because I went with it and I told you, the kid’s a leech.”

“Yes, I do remember you mentioning him being a leech.” Kravitz’s smile is fond and he reaches around their dishes to put a hand on Taako’s. “I think what you’re doing for him is wonderful. I’m sure having a stable presence in his life helps him.”

Taako groans but lets go of his wine glass to hold Kravitz’s hand. “Me being a stable presence in anyone’s life is laughable, but I got myself into this mess. Didn’t expect some kid to outsmart me.”

“He sounds quite impressive.”

“He is.” Taako aims for passive but hits ‘bragging parent’ instead. “This kid is stupid smart.”

“And is he a promising magic student?”

“None of our conversation regarding him leaves this table,” Taako says seriously, locking eyes with Kravitz. “I mean it.”

“Of-of course, Taako. I wouldn’t tell anyone about your personal matters.”

“Good.” Taako smiles, stroking his thumb over Kravitz’s knuckles. “Kid’s a damn natural.”


	6. In Which Kravitz is the Subject of a Bet

Kravitz is impressed by how quickly Dirty Plants gets things moving. Apparently he’s one of the first of the season to come to them for a big job, so it’s not long before they’re working at his house every day.

At first, it’s mostly Taako and Magnus. Magnus clears away the dead plants and debris while Taako sits on a wall, levitating everything over and ouside the house. Apparently, Taako tells Kravitz later, usually he’s left on shop duty while Magnus and Merle do prep work, but since they don’t want to drag dirt through his house, he gets to levitate junk over walls all day. He doesn’t mind, though, he adds; “I’m getting paid to see your face every day, can’t complain about that.”

Magnus clears the courtyards and has them ready for landscaping in no time at all. Kravitz tries to hide his disappointment the day Magnus and Merle show up with no Taako.

“Someone has to mind the shop and I got all his plans right here,” Merle assures Kravitz, having apparently seen something in his face. He holds up a folder with his prosthetic arm, (which now that he’s really looking at it, Kravitz notes it’s made to look like wood with flower engravings). It suits the dwarf.

“Oh, I don’t doubt you for a moment,” Kravitz says firmly as he lets them into the house. “I just assumed he would be needed for getting things inside?”

“Don’t worry, nothing today should cause much of a mess for old Maggie to carry."

A hand on his shoulder nearly has him jumping out of his skin. “It’s okay if you miss Taako,” Magnus says with a broad grin. “Kinda hard to miss how much you like seeing him, hmm?”

Kravitz ducks his head and pulls out of Magnus’s grip. “I-I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“Okay, okay.” Magnus laughs, holding his heads up in mock defeat. “Merle and I got a bet going on which of you is going to ask the other out first, though, so let us know how that goes.”

Magnus follows Merle out to the courtyard, leaving Kravitz embarrassed and a little confused. He and Taako had been on a couple dates by now. Has he not mentioned to Magnus and Merle that they were seeing each other? Or is he assuming they're more than they are? A few dates didn’t mean a relationship but he had been fairly certain they both had an interest in moving it in that direction… 

He isn’t going to fix anything by overthinking it. He can just say nothing to correct Magnus until he's had a chance to talk to Taako. If he hasn't told them, he probably has good reason for it, right?

Magnus is right about not causing a mess, it turns out. He carries in closed bags of dirt and mulch, leaving only the barest trail that a quick sweep can take care of. The stacks of stone tile he carries look heavy, but that’s nothing compared to seeing him carry in the solid oak bench he’d made. 

“Could I get you something to drink?” Kravitz offers when Magnus is taking a moment to lean against the wall, only just sweating. 

“Oh, sure, if you could bring me some water that’d be great.” Magnus turns towards Merle, who is singing Fantasy Jimmy Buffett while he arranges pots of plants according to Taako’s layout. “Hey! Merle! You want a drink?”

“You don’t gotta yell, I’m not deaf!” Merle calls back just as loudly and Kravitz cringes. He’s gotten a little used to how loud they are, but… still. “Sure, I could use a water.”

Kravitz nods and heads into the kitchen. He’s retrieving two water bottles from the fridge when his doorbell rings. He pauses, not expecting anyone besides the lansdcapers today. 

Leaving the water bottles on the counter for now, he makes his way to the front door. His confusion is hardly assuaged when he sees who is at his door.

“Taako?”

“The one and only.” Taako grins up at him from under the brim of a sunhat decorated with a sunflower. He looks like he’s raided someone’s grandmother’s closet, wearing a lace vest over a purple shirt, with a floral skirt and green rubber boots (at least his jewelry looks like his usual fare). He looks borderline ridiculous, outfit clashing and yet… Kravitz still thinks he looks striking. 

“What brings you here?” he asks, glancing at his watch. The shop should still be open for a few hours. 

“Come to make sure those bozos haven’t messed anything up. I know Merle’s planting things today.” Taako steps in close, backing Kravitz up until he’s inside and can shut the door behind him. Then, once certain no one can see, Taako leans up, pecking him on the cheek. “Which courtyard they in?”

“Oh, uh, the one by the living room.” Kravitz can’t help but smile at the kiss, trailing after Taako through the living room. He pauses halfway, remembering to grab the water bottles. Really, Taako has no right to be dressed like that and still have Kravitz wanting to pull him into a kiss.

Taako slides open the door out to the courtyard, calling out when he doesn’t immediately get their attention. “Hey boner squad! Taako’s here to double check your work!” Both Magnus and Merle groan.

“Did you make Julia watch the shop again?” Magnus asks with a frown.

“Just who is the boss here?” Merle grumbles.

“Julia was fine with it, she wasn’t working on anything today,” Taako says, snatching the water bottles from Kravitz’s hands when he approaches and tossing one to Magnus. “And I know, I know.” He walks over to Merle, handing the water bottle directly to him. “But I told you at the start, this’s my baby. I wanna make sure you don’t fuck anything up.”

“When have I ever fucked up? I've been doin this a lot longer than you, kid.”

Taako puts his hands on his hips, staring down at Merle. “You want me to start the list since I started working for you or include Magnus’s stories too?”

Merle grunts and grumbles, moving some plants around. “You just want to be here to show off for-”

Whatever Merle was saying is cut off by Taako loudly declaring, “Listen, we’ve been over the importance of plant placement! If I'm going to do this job, we’re going to do it right. You can’t put the daylilies there, their color will overpower those foam flower things, move them further over there.”

“Well maybe if you wrote your guide in common,” Merle answers, distracted from whatever he had been trying to say.

Kravitz draws away then, sliding the glass door shut. The three of them have settled in to bickering over Taako’s instructions and he doesn't want to awkwardly stand and watch. He’s happy the elf has shown up, though. Everything seems so much livelier with him around.

When they start the courtyard outside his office, Kravitz tries his best not to awkwardly watch as he sits at his desk and works. Today Taako’s wearing those garish green boots again and an open collared shirt with another collared shirt under it and he shouldn’t look so cute, but he manages it all the same.

“You keep an eye on the construction workers like that, too?” Magnus asks as he passes through the office.

Kravitz snaps to attention from where he had been watching Taako and Merle argue, Taako’s hands flying up in defeat over something. “I-I’m sorry?”

Magnus is carrying a white stone fountain that he surely shouldn’t be carrying alone, but he doesn’t look the least bit strained by its weight. “You’re not subtle,” he chuckles, pausing in the doorway outside. “I bet that Taako asks you out first, so don’t be in any hurry, huh?”

“You-you-” Kravitz stutters but can’t get a sentence out before Magnus is gone. He’s sure his face is bright red. It takes all of his self-control not to stand and leave his office; Magnus would notice and know why and he won’t give him that victory. 

“Hey handsome!” Taako swings into the room at that moment, hanging on the edge of the sliding door. “When you’re done looking like you wanna hide in a hole could you get me a bottle of water?”

“Of course.” Magnus and Merle have the manners to bring their own bottles, only asking to use the tap to refill occasionally. Kravitz doesn’t question if Taako normally bothers their clients for drinks or if it’s just him; he’s happy to assume the latter.

“Homies, I’m gonna get a drink, don’t fuck anything up while I’m gone!” 

“Yeah, yeah, got get a drink of  _ water _ ,” Magnus calls back. 

Taako laughs, following Kravitz out of the office. In the kitchen, he leans against the counter, smiling in a way that never fails to makes Kravitz’s heart speed up.

“So,” he drawls as Kravitz grabs a bottled water from his fridge. “How you liking things?” He raises his eyebrows and Kravitz isn’t quite sure what things he’s referring to; surely he just means the courtyards?

“Everything is coming together nicely,” he answers, smiling when Taako makes sure to brush their fingers together when accepting the water. “That bench Magnus made is truly beautiful. I’m lucky to have gotten it.”

“Mmmhmmm, I’m pretty good at knowing who needs what.” Taako tilts his head for a moment and then reaches out, grabbing Kravitz by the wrist to pull him closer. “For instance, based on how distracted you’ve been in your office, I think you could use some Taako.”

Kravitz covers his face with his spare hand. “Am I really so obvious?” he asks between fingers. “Magnus says he and Merle have a bet on which of us will ask the other out first.”

Taako’s coy smile turns curious and then decidedly devious. “They got a bet on us, huh?” He pulls Kravitz’s hands away from his face. “Well, who bet on who?”

“Um… I think Magnus thinks you’ll ask me out first? I suppose it isn’t my business what you tell them, but have you not mentioned our dates to them? I was under the impression they were friends as well as coworkers.”

Taako sighs, slouching against Kravitz so they’re both forced to lean back against the counter. “It’s none of their business what I’m doing in my free time,” he mutters. “ _ Especially _ if they’re gonna bet on it! You get any other deets? Is there a time frame for this or what?”

“Um. He didn’t specify.”

“Have to come up with some other way to make both of them lose.” Taako hummed thoughtfully, sipping at his water. The two stood in a comfortable silence while Taako thought, Kravitz turning just slightly so he could see past the brim of Taako’s hat and study his face. He loved getting a chance to look at Taako’s face up close, studying the soft flutter of his long lashes when he blinked and smattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks. 

“May I kiss you, Taako?”

Taako smiles, tightening the cap on his water. “Just a quick peck. Can’t get caught by the-” He stops and his smile turns into a grin. “That’s it. I’m a genius!” Leaning up, he smooshes his lips against Kravitz’s, squeezing his arm to steady himself. “You are brilliant, babe,” he says, all grins.

“I am?” Kravitz blinks, almost stumbling back a step when he’s kissed so suddenly and firmly.

“You just keep up that cute dazed look,” Taako says, patting his cheek. “I gotta go keep an eye on things. You try to get some work done.”

“I’m getting work done.” Kravitz isn’t even aware he’s pouting until Taako laughs and comments on it and he can feel his cheeks warming. “Aren’t you the one who’s here when you’re meant to be at the shop?”

“Everyone loves when Julia runs the shop, don’t let Magnus confuse you.” Taako leads the way back to the office, gesturing with one hand as he talks. “They just don’t like me to hover. Julia makes some of the stuff we sell in the shop, too, though, so like, she’s basically an employee. “

“I don’t think that’s how that works.”

“Sure it is!” Taako pauses in the door back outside, giving Kravitz an exaggerated wink. “Now you get some work done, handsome!”

Kravitz can’t even blush at that, the wink is just so over the top. He laughs, making a shooing motion at Taako as he sits back at his desk. He’s getting work done! Maybe not at his usual pace, but that’s information for him and him alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter's kind of short i realize, but it's kind of just filler?? i'm excited for the next chapter and y'all should be too c:<


	7. In Which Angus Pulls A Fast One

At the end of every week, Taako picks Angus up from school. Sometimes, when he’s in a good mood, he’ll offer up an additional day, making a show of how saintly he’s being in giving up his time. He enjoys spending a little extra time with Angus, though he’d laugh in the face of anyone who suggested it. Angus has a much easier time admitting that he enjoys their extra days immensely. He considers Taako an important figure in his life and the afternoon when they aren’t having lessons and are more or less just hanging out are some of his favorites. He has friends at school, and spends a lot of time with Mookie given the circumstances, but there’s just something different about spending time with Taako that he can’t put into words.

It’s a nice day, so it’s no surprise to see them sitting outside a cafe. Paloma’s cafe is a small one, but Taako swears by her baked goods; best in town. Since they aren’t working on magic like usual, Taako's relaxing with an iced coffee and working at a danish fruit tart the size of his head. He’s decided it’s a good day to “just chill and get some sun”, which he insists Angus and his books don’t do nearly enough.

“You gotta take some time to relax and just be,” he says, watching as Angus works on homework. He’s half tempted to take his books from him.

“What I’d like to be is early for this assignment,” Angus says mildly, not looking up from his book as his hand flaps around distractedly before landing on his muffin, anything else he might say lost in the giant mouthful he takes of the impressively sized sweet.

Taako rolls his eyes, pushing the plate closer so Angus won’t have to flail about for it. How he can enjoy his food while toiling away at schoolwork is beyond Taako’s understanding.

“Do you know what sort of people finish assignments early, Ango?” He leans in, like he’s sharing a secret. “You know what we call those people? Nerds. And I know you’re a nerd, but you’re heading down the nerd life path of no return. I am trying so desperately to save you from that life, kiddo, but you are making this hard on me. What kid hangs out with the coolest person they know and does homework?”

“I know I’m a huge nerd,” Angus replies without seeming bothered, flashing a smile at Taako when he moves the muffin closer. “I’m honestly the biggest nerd I know. My fate was sealed the moment they put these comically huge glasses on my face when I was five. I’ve been reading detective novels and watching terrible sci-fi movies ever since. There’s no hope for me, sir, but I appreciate that you try.”

Taako heaves a sigh, leaning back in his seat. “I don’t know why I’m trying when you’ve just given up and accepted your fate like that. I’m not doing this for myself, you know.” He nibbles at his danish, the mention of sci-fi movies making him think of someone else who enjoys them. For just a second, he images the three of them watching a movie together and then he shoves a bigger bite of the danish in his mouth, putting frustration at his own traitorous brain into chewing the mouthful of pastry.

“I thought you were doing it so that when we were having magic lessons you didn’t have to worry about being seen with a big dweeb,” Angus says, wrinkling his nose when Taako crams so much of his danish in his mouth. “Ew.” Looking from Taako to his book, Angus is clearly considering something when his attention snaps elsewhere.

Taako is considering snatching his book when he’s pulled out of his own thoughts.

“Taako!” Angus says, so much louder than he usually raises his voice in public. “Isn’t that your boyfriend?!”

Taako chokes on his danish, barely managing not to spit it out or actually for real choke as he hurriedly takes a drink of his coffee.

“Quiet!” he snaps, voice a loud whisper in contrast to Angus’s raised voice. He follows the boy’s gaze, brow furrowing. “First of all, little man, I don’t have a boyfriend. And secondly, that’s not even who you think…” His voice trails off as he studies the man at the counter longer. At first glance, it doesn’t look like Kravitz. He’s dressed too casual, wearing jeans that have been tucked into boots, his hair pulled into a less orderly ponytail at the nape of his neck, and a worn looking t-shirt; but then he turns to look back and oh, Taako knows that face. Damn, Kravitz dresses down well.

“Secondly! Shut up!” Taako snaps back to reality, jerking his gaze away from Kravitz and doing a quick mental inventory. He runs a hand over his hair to smooth any flyaways and adjusts his shirt. He’s dressed for a day out with the kid, casual in his tank top (that reads “I Hate Math But I Love Counting My Money”) and skirt, printed leggings and ankle boots. He looks good, naturally, but it’s not exactly what he’d choose to wear if he knew he was going to run into Kravitz. Apparently, his moment of panic is clear enough to Angus, who is staring at Taako in awe of this open moment of the elf freaking out.

(Kravitz is having a similar reaction of his own. He’s a man who’s rarely seen by anyone he knows when he’s dressed down, usually only his family members at that, so his face is immediately blood red. He’s utterly distracted by the elf and boy sitting on the cafe patio to the point where he almost drops his latte when it’s handed to him.)

“Mr. Kravitz, over here!” Angus calls, not listening at all to the fact that he’s been told to shut up, a toothy grin on his face.

“I am going to _destroy_ you,” Taako hisses across the table. He pulls himself together quickly as Kravitz approaches them, looking almost a little scared.

"Um, hi."

“Um hi yourself,” Taako says, offering up a smile that’s not just for show. He’s always happy to see Kravitz, even though he’d rather the man not be startled to death by having a child yell across the cafe at him. “Why don’t you pull up a chair and join us? Ango here was just dying to apologize for spreading rumors about you being a lich.”

Angus smiles sweetly at Taako-and Taako wonders where he is getting this sass from-as he sets his book on the table, closed for now, and addresses himself to his muffin quite happily.

“Oh, are you sure?” Kravitz asks, looking very much like he wants to say yes but also like he doesn’t want to impose on whatever they’re doing. “And there’s no need to apologize, Angus.”

“I am sorry, though,” Angus says sincerely. “The only things that spread faster than germs at my school are rumors, sir, so I should have known better than to listen. Please, join us.”

“Apology accepted, please don’t worry about it.” There’s an empty table near theirs, so Kravitz snags a chair, seating himself at the table and taking a sip of his latte. “What are you two up to? Magic lessons?” he asks, indicating the book sitting in front of Angus.

“Nah, learned quick not to give him magic lessons with other people around,” Taako snickers. It’s an odd feeling to see Kravitz by surprise like this, when all their meetings had been planned, whether for work or dates. Even odder still is the fact that Angus is there, so he doesn’t feel comfortable being forthright with his flirting-well, he feels fine with it, but he’s pretty sure Kravitz would collapse in on himself. He’s still easily flustered, which Taako kind of adores.

“Apparently what we’re up to is me enjoying a fab-u-lous pastry while the nerdling works on homework to have it done early.” He rolls his eyes, flopping a hand dismissively at Angus’s book. “Like that’s a totally exciting thing to do, right?”

“You make him sound like quite the menace,” Kravitz chuckles, letting his arms rest on the table, latte cupped in his hands. “I’m sure magic lessons with me would be equally disastrous. My private tutor growing up said my parents would save a lot of money if they just wrote my abilities off as innate and didn’t bother with formal training.”

“Innate magic is cool, too,” Angus says, picking off bits of his muffin and popping them into his mouth. “What does yours have to do with?” Taako perks up at this, eager for information he doesn’t have about Kravitz. At least Angus’s incorrigible curiosity can be good for something.

Kravitz makes a face, glancing at Taako with the most pitiful, pleading expression. It’s with a sigh that he replies, “Death, of course. I can occasionally sense when someone is about to die, that sort of thing.”

Taako grins when Kravitz admits to what his magic is, face scrunched up like he’s about to burst, but he manages to contain himself. That’s fuel for later. Besides, there’s not a great joke in laughing about knowing when someone is about to die.

Angus stares at Kravitz with huge eyes and the man coughs, changing the subject. “Anyways. That sounds exactly like the sort of thing I would have done when I was younger. I was very bookish. Although, in this environment, I’d be more likely to have brought my guitar or something.”

This Taako leaps on, a chance to bring up Kravitz’s change in dress. “Speaking of your guitar,” he says as a cheeky smile spreads across his face. “Is this how young stud musician Krav dressed?”

“I don’t know if I’d say stud,” Kravitz says, hiding his flushed cheeks behind his latte for a moment as he drinks. “But I didn’t really change the way I dress much from when I was still a music student.”

“That’s cool,” Angus says, eating the last of his muffin and wiping his fingers on his napkin. “I’m not very good at music stuff. I did choir for a little bit but I stopped so I could join the math team.” Pausing, he squints a little at Kravitz. “So you’re not a lich, but your magic has to do with death, and you’re a musician? You’re an interesting man.”

“I own a mortuary, which is my job. Music is more of a hobby now,” Kravitz says, not seeming bothered by the questions. “So yes, the death thing goes hand in hand with that?”

“Do you like, do the stuff with the dead bodies?” Angus asks, leaning forward across the table. “Like, preserve them and get them ready for the viewings? We watched a video about it in class one time, about how it’s so much harder to get bodies ready for funerals than just putting the corpse in a box. Is that really what it’s like?”

“Warned you about this,” Taako hums, nibbling at his pastry. He rolls his eyes at Angus’s questions, bored because he knows this stuff already. The kid could at least detective well enough to get Taako some hot deets he doesn’t already have. “Get him started and you’ve opened Pandora’s box, he just won’t stop.”

He drops his pastry back on the plate with a laugh as something occurs to him. “Maybe you’re not a lich.” He snickers, grabbing at the table as he bites back his laughter, trying to get his words out. “You’re a reaper man. Ol’ death himself, the grim reaper, a uh, oh, what do they call them… a psychopomp!”

“Hmm, maybe in another life,” Kravitz says, looking more than a little amused by how tickled Taako is by his own ideas. “I think I’d know if I was a reaper or something like that, like how I’d know if I was a lich. I’ll admit, though, being a reaper sounds like a much cooler job than working at a mortuary. Probably a lot less paperwork to do.”

“In general, though, reapers are agents of their governing deity,” Angus chimes in. “So while there might be less paperwork, you wouldn’t be the boss anymore. There’d be someone else to boss you around and tell you what to do. Not very nicely, if I’m remembering my mythology correctly. Plus, people are always trying to break out of the afterlife.”

“For sure, I wouldn’t want to be answering to some deity, especially not one in charge of death.” Taako goes back to picking at his danish, careful of getting the sticky fruit filling on his fingers. He’s loving this idea even more than Kravitz being a lich. On top of that, he’s distracted for a moment with the idea of getting a cloak and scythe for Jenkins; how perfect would that be? In fact, now he’s thinking about it, he could have a great time playing dress up with that skeleton if Kravitz gave him the go-ahead. “Love the idea, babe, but I can’t see you being a great grim reaper with the chasing after rogue souls thing.”

Kravitz’s cheeks flush ever so slightly (as they’re wont to do every time Taako calls him any kind of pet name), but he looks softly, privately pleased, like “yes, that’s me, I’m his babe”. The reaction makes Angus giggle, attempting to hide the sound by coughing and reaching up to pluck his glasses from his face, polishing the lenses on his shirt.

Taako catches Angus’s giggle and is glad in spite of himself that neither of them seems bothered by the other. It’s not like it matters to him if they like each other, except that it kind of does. Angus is basically his barometer on whether someone is worth bothering with. If they like Angus, that’s a point in their favor; if Angus likes them, that’s a bigger point.

“Why not?” Kravitz asks, his bottom lip poking out in a tiny pout that he’s unaware is highly effective on Taako. “You don’t think I could bring order to the afterlife and guide the dead and hunt down errant souls?”

He bites his lip against the fond smile trying to form when Kravitz pouts. No one needs to know the power that expression can have over him. “Listen, you would be great at the whole bringing order and guiding the dead thing, obviously,” he says like it goes without saying. “I am doubting the whole errant soul hunting thing, though, like, if they put up a fight? Maybe in another lifetime, but you.” He picks up the last of his pastry, raising an eyebrow. “Have you ever fought anything?”

“I broke someone’s nose once,” Kravitz says after a long pause, sipping his latte with a chagrined look. “And I think I dislocated the other guy’s jaw.”

“Oh my god,” Angus says, getting that deer in the headlights look again.

“They pulled my sister’s headscarf off,” he says simply, but with ice in his tone that says the transgression hasn’t been forgiven, regardless of how long ago it was. “I never enjoy resorting to violence, but that doesn’t mean I’m incapable of it.” Looking at Angus, he laughs. “Do as I say, not as I do. It’s never a good idea.”

“I don’t think I have it in me to hit anyone, sir,” Angus says honestly, looking between his own scrawny arms and Kravitz’s more toned ones. “I also don’t think it would hurt very much if I did.”

“Hope you fucked them up,” Taako says, nodding his approval at Kravitz’s past actions. “So maybe you could pull it off. You’d probably have some rad powers, anyways.”

Almost without thought, Angus holds his hand out, expression expectant. “Swear jar.”

Magnus said it was a bad habit to get into, swearing around children. Both Mookie and Angus were supposed to hold their respective father and guardian-of-sorts responsible for keeping their language clean. It’s a pretty ingenious idea, according to Magnus (if anyone bothered to ask him). It’s a way for money to travel from Taako to his not-kid without him getting all weird about it or Angus feeling like he should refuse. Plus, any amount is suitable to the swear jar, from pennies to quarters to dollar bills. So Angus can get snacks with his friends after school when he’s in a less than ideal home situation and Taako swears point oh-one percent less.

Taako would never admit to appreciating the idea, groaning loud and long as he digs in his pocket to find change. Like a bratty child, he manages to hold the dull note until he’s dug out a quarter and tossed it to Angus. “Still gotta get Magnus back for this crap,” he mutters, settling back into his seat. “Never had a swear jar when I was a kid.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something to do to get back at him,” Angus hums, not looking bothered as he pulls a small plastic pig from his backpack and drops the quarter into it.

“Now I’m grateful I haven’t slipped up,” Kravitz chuckles.

“Anyways!” Taako smacks a hand on the table. “As I was going to say. That’s we we have magic for, Ango. I’m not gonna lie and say I could win in a fist fight, but you’d have to rip my wand from my cold, dead hands to get me into one in the first place. And even if you got my wand, I’d use every ounce of magic left at my disposal before I’d bother punching someone.”

“Taako, please don’t encourage him to use magic to browbeat people into submission. Just… try not to get into fights, period.” A fond smile crosses Kravitz’s face. “I can’t see you ever punching someone, to be frank. Not because I think you’re incapable of it, but it doesn’t seem like you’d enjoy literally getting your hands dirty.” It’s hardly meant as a dig at Taako’s expense; if anything, Kravitz sounds adoring.

“Got me dead to rights on that one, though I’ve used magic for a fight or two before.” He says it like the punchline of a joke, but the one fight he’s been in wasn’t funny and he hates to think of it. So of course it’s a joke. “Not that I’m trained for that, so you can just imagine what a show that was.”

“Have you now?” Kravitz asks, raising his eyebrows. “Did someone not agree on the flowers you recommended for their space or a paint color?” None the wiser, he plays along with what has been presented to him as a joke. “Even if you aren’t trained in battle magic, your school adapts to it very well. I can’t imagine you’d be too terribly outmatched if it really came down to it.”

“Ugh, this guy was a real piece of sh-” Taako stops himself barely, glancing at Angus like he’s the one who almost cussed, before continuing. “A real piece of work. Goes along with everything, never says a word against it, until suddenly, one day, everything is wrong.” Taako gestures widely with one arm when he says “everything”, grimacing. “You don’t tell an expert how to do their job, ch’yeah? But no, he figures he’s seen enough, he’s basically the same level as me.”

Taako lets out an indignant snort, leaning on the table. “Well, we had it out,” he goes on, sipping his drink. He doesn’t remember the fight clearly; he had been drinking and hadn’t expected to see the man. Yelling led to punching led to him casting a spell or two and then everything had been chaos as their brawl was broken up. “I walked away a little worse for the wear, but I got my point across to him.”

He looks at Angus, pointing a finger at him. “Tip one if you’re gonna fight: make sure you’re of a higher level of magic so you’ve got the immediate advantage.”

“I can’t imagine anyone telling you what to do, expert or not, so I can’t imagine that went well,” Kravitz says, looking sympathetic. “I’m glad you were okay.”

“Me too,” Angus starts to say, only to look exasperated at Taako’s final words. “But how am I supposed to figure that out, sir? It’s not like a video game where I can just check someone’s stats and find out if they’re higher than a level two.”

Taako laughs, waving away their concern. He was more than a little worse for the wear, but he thinks he at least got away without any scars. He’s pretty sure he remembers using scorching ray and that had to leave a nasty burn wound on Sazed. His own wounds healed just fine with time, so far as he’s been able to tell, and he’s vain enough to check himself over for blemishes on the regular.

“You’re supposed to be the smart one,” he says with just as much exasperation. “Can’t you like, Sherlock-style analyze people or something?”

“I mean, I can, but it’s not perfect,” Angus says, looking a bit flustered. “And I definitely don’t know if I have the sense to guess someone’s magic level. I usually just notice small stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?” Kravitz asks, genuinely curious, which is enough to make Angus perk up like some kind of puppy.

“Um…” Sitting back in his chair, Angus looks at Kravitz, studying him up and down. “I could tell from when you were standing up at the counter that your main form of exercise is jogging. It’s in your leg muscles and definition.” Slowly, he cocks his head to the side. “And you’re left-handed. There’s ink smudges on the side of your left hand and not your right.” He shrugs. “Just little things like that.”

“Little?” Kravitz repeats, looking thoroughly impressed. “Taako, you didn’t tell me he was so talented.”

“I told you he was stupidly smart,” Taako says, almost a hiss like they’re not supposed to be talking about it. He looks a touch proud, though. The only thing that comes close to being as great as him being complimented is hearing Angus get complimented. As much as he huffs and puffs over it, he thinks Angus deserves every last bit of it and then some. Especially since he's not great at it himself.

“See, eventually you’ll be able to size people up magically like that.” He tosses his hair back, continuing loftily. “It’ll take a while, but if you follow my tutelage, then, well, as long as you can learn everything as well as I know it, you should be able to do it.”

“I don’t think ‘smart’ does him justice,” Kravitz says, amusement twinkling in his eyes and the expression on his face soft when Angus ducks his head a little, smiling so big and wide at being complimented by Taako. Kravitz has heard Taako talk about Angus before, but he hasn’t seen them interacting since they accosted him at his house what seems like forever ago. “I’m smart. He’s brilliant.”

“You’re much too nice to me, sir,” Angus sputters, his cheeks red. Just like when Taako called him “stupidly smart”, he looks so pleased. “Of course I’ll follow your lessons, sir! You know I’m a good study! And with a wizard as talented as you, I know I still have a lot to learn, but who better to teach me?”

“Hoo boy, don’t compliment him too much!” Taako reaches across the table, ruffling Angus’s hair until it’s good and messy. There’s a fond smile on his face for a moment, just a blink and you missed it fraction of a second. “He might not be now, but his head’s gonna get huge if people keep on about what a genius he is.”

When he sits back, Taako looks pleased with himself. He knows he’s a shit wizard, but he’s happy to enjoy being “talented” in Angus’s eyes until he’s old enough to know better. “Heck yeah, and I’m a great teacher, too. Most people would get charged top dollar for this. Real lucky kid.”

Angus looks a little put out when his hair is ruffled like that, but he manages to finger-comb the curls back into some semblance of order without a terrible amount of effort. “I’m very humble,” he huffs. “Unlike some wizards.”

“Does this mean I’m going to have to pay for lessons if you decide to give them to me?” Kravitz asks teasingly. “And I happen to find Taako’s self-confidence refreshing and endearing.”

“Self-confidence, right,” Angus repeats flatly.

There’s a second where Taako looks surprised at Kravitz’s words, but the expression quickly melts into a smile. It’s silly how happy it makes him to hear that Kravitz doesn’t find his conceited attitude off-putting. At best, people tend to find it funny, but never refreshing or, and this is what really gets him, _endearing_.

“Self-confidence is important,” he tells Angus airily before addressing Kravitz’s question. “I’m sure we can work out some kind of payment plan, my man.” His smile teeters into a grin and, oh, to hell with Angus’s presence-he adds a wink for good measure.

Kravitz blushes, although it’s only mild. Or, at least, it was mild, before Angus makes a noise at the way Taako winks at him. “Ooooh, are you suggesting he pay you in kisses?” he asks with a syrupy sweet voice.

“That’s quite enough out of you,” Kravitz scolds, cheeks scarlet, and if the boy wasn’t already done with his muffin he would have taken it as punishment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was saving this for the weekend but sometimes life comes at you hard an fast and you just wanna start the weekend a little early


	8. In Which Angus Swears

“What did you gentlemen have planned for the rest of the day?” Kravitz asks, clearly trying to change direction of the conversation from how he may or may not pay Taako for cooking lessons.

“Gentlemen,” Taako snorts, still tickled by Angus’s reaction and Kravitz scolding him. Having to make a deal later to get Angus to keep his mouth shut about Kravitz is worth it if only for that moment. He’d give him a high-five if he thought Kravitz wouldn’t fuss at him not to encourage the behavior. “I didn’t plan anything really. Figured we’d go with the flow or whatever Agnes wants. What about you?”

“I just got finished helping my mother move some stuff in the garage,” Kravitz answers, draining the last of his latte. “I stopped here on my way home since I walk right by it. I didn’t have any plans aside from maybe some paperwork and trying to throw something together for dinner.”

“Taako said that you had a skeleton at your house,” Angus pipes up. “One that used to be a real person.” He’s all curiosity again. “Can I see?”

“I don’t mind,” Kravitz says, although he does look taken aback for a moment. “Taako is at my house enough for work, though, so I’m not sure if he’s eager to sacrifice his weekend there.”

“Oh, yes, what a sacrifice it would be!” Taako rests the back of his hand against his forehead, leaning his head away dramatically. “I long for a change of scenery!” He draws a long sigh and then leans on the table, quick as a whip, pointing at Angus. “You and I are going to have a talk about secrets, kid,” he whispers, pointedly not looking in Kravitz’s direction. He had talked to Angus about Kravitz with full confidence of privacy and now he’s just trotting that information out for his own enjoyment. “A very serious one.”

Angus leans in when Taako does and drops his own voice to a whisper. “We can have as many conversations as you want, sir, but you’ve never dated someone in the whole time I’ve known you. I’m going to milk this for all it’s worth.”

Kravitz looks curiously at the two as they whisper, but doesn’t try to listen in. He just waits patiently for them to have whatever private conversation they need; he has interrupted their day, even if they have decided to make him a part of it now.

Taako pauses for a moment, glaring at Angus, letting the full weight of his words sink in. Then he’s sitting back up, grabbing his drink to finish off with a loud slurp of the straw. “For sure, though, I am all about hanging with you more if you don’t mind the kid. Just give me like, a sign or something if you want us out of your hair. Don’t wanna keep you from that paperwork, it sounds real exciting.”

“Honestly, it’s fine. I’m not so selfless a person that I’d extend the invitation if I didn’t want to.” At the mention of his paperwork, he makes a disgusted face. “Someday I’m going to get myself a secretary to help with some of this. Doing paperwork is my least favorite thing on the planet.”

While Kravitz and Taako talk, Angus packs his book away in his bag, gathering the napkins and their empty cups to take to the garbage.

“So glad I don’t have to do any paperwork,” Taako says with a pleased look. Merle knows he messes up paperwork on purpose, but the argument got old quick. The only time Taako does paperwork is if they’re really in a rush period, and then only because Merle will make him do it over again and then some.

“Seriously, though,” he says, standing after Kravitz does so he can lean into him. “I’m not gonna be insulted if you decide to kick us out after a while. I know that chilling with a kid isn’t everyone’s thing.”

Angus being a nosy brat aside, he’s kind of looking forward to the three of them spending time together. His student-sidekick-whatever and his… whatever Kravitz is that isn’t a boyfriend because a handful of dates doesn’t mean a relationship. It shouldn’t matter what Kravitz thinks of Angus or if he wants to be around him. It should be awkward, that’s what it should be.

Kravitz smiles a little when Taako leans against him, doing nothing to discourage it. “I like kids,” he admits honestly. “Even ones that previously thought I was a lich.”

Taako doesn’t voice how glad he is to hear Kravitz likes kids. He’s not much of a kid person himself, but damn if Angus hasn’t wormed his way into his heart. In spite of him trying to keep from getting too attached to Kravitz, he’s pleased to have another part of his life that he easily fits into.

“Are we ready?” Angus asks when he returns, shouldering his book bag and looking at them expectantly. “We walked here, so unless you drove we’re hoofing it.”

“I also walked,” Kravitz says. “I hope that the hike won’t be too much for your delicate constitution, dear.”

Kravitz isn’t as generous with the pet names as Taako is, so it makes him smile when he’s called dear, even if he has to scoff at the idea of having a delicate constitution. “Please, these boots were made for walking,” he huffs, stepping ahead to lead away from the cafe. They really aren’t, though they’re better than a good half of his shoes. He doesn’t have a car, though, and public transport sucks, so he’s pretty used to walking around town.

\---

Later that evening, when pizza has been ordered and consumed, Jenkins has been dressed up, and a movie has been watched (sci-fi, but Taako’s choice: Fantasy Jupiter Ascending), it’s time for Taako and Angus to leave. Angus’s home is just up the street from Kravitz’s, so his foster parents had been okay with him staying out a little later than he usually did when spending a weekend day with Taako.

Taako gives Kravitz a peck on the cheek on the way out the door, smiling at how it lights up his face. It’s dark outside and Kravitz watches until Taako and Angus are down the walkway and back on the sidewalk before disappearing back into his house, closing the door behind him and leaving the two alone.

“Today was fun,” Angus says idly. He certainly seemed to enjoy himself a lot, for all that Taako is certain he made the suggestion in the first place to get on his nerves.

“It was, wasn’t it?” Taako hums thoughtfully. He agrees, though. It was fun and the constant buzz of his brain had quieted some during the day. What he had worried was a situation that would have him on edge the whole time had been entirely too comfortable. Thinking about the day warms him through as much as it makes him nervous.

“Now,” Taako says, meandering down the sidewalk towards Angus’s house. “I think it’s time you and I had a talk, little man. I let you get away with this-”, he gestures towards Kravitz’s house, “-so I think it’s fair I tell you to keep your trap shut and you do it.”

“Keep my trap shut about what?” Angus asks with a bit of a huff. “Everything went fine.”

“That’s not the problem.” Taako sighs as if to say “look what I have to put up with”. This should be simple-tell Angus not to tell anyone about him and Kravitz, problem solved. He just doesn’t want him prodding the subject. “Look, whatever Krav and I have going on, which, as I said, he isn’t my boyfriend, but whatever it is, it’s nobody’s business. You know, and whatever, that’s fine I guess, today was-was-it wasn’t fine, but it wasn’t bad. Merle and Magnus? Those bozos think we’re still just flirting and that’s it.”

“Oh,” Angus says, drawing out the vowel and nodding gravely. “I mean, of course I’m not going to tell them. I like Mr. Kravitz a lot. He’s nice, and funny, and definitely not a lich. And it seems like you like him too. He’s good for you, so I want him to stay around. The other sirs poking their noses into things aren’t going to encourage that, so your secret is safe with me.” To seal his statement he holds out his pinkie to Taako.

“Good, because the other option is I murder you and make it look like an accident.” The venom in his voice is quickly replaced with a laugh. He’s glad Angus has saved him the trouble of trying to subtly ask what he thought of Kravitz. He’s happy that he likes him. “I don’t know about this good for me business you’re talking about,” he snorts, because he doesn’t want to think about Angus worrying about him or anything like that. If they’re not together or Angus isn’t practicing magic then Taako should cease existing to him, he thinks. Smiling softly, he hooks his pinkie with Angus’s. “I hope he sticks around too, though.”

Angus gives a little shrug, expression serious for a kid his age. “Well… you seem lonely sometimes is all, sir.” He gives their linked pinkies a little shake before letting his hand fall, grinning widely. “So, I’m gonna keep it to myself, and embarrass you whenever I can if we run into him, and it’ll all be great!”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s gonna be real great,” Taako grumbles, giving Angus a light shove at the shoulder after he lets go of his pinkie. He officially has too many emotions going on. The least Angus can do for him is let Taako pretend they don’t care about each other, sheesh. “And every time you embarrass me I am going to make your life hell. And that doesn’t count for the swear jar, it’s a place, and, like, a baby swear.”

“Oh, you could never make my life hell, I treasure every moment we spend together,” Angus says with wide-eyed sincerity that’s just a little too much to be believable. “And that’s fine! If hell is a baby swear that means I can use it too, since I’m actually a baby according to you.”

“Angus McDonald!” Taako gasps in horror, hands flying to cover his mouth. That is not what he meant and the brat knows it. “You can suck up to me all you want, but you don’t get to swear! Baby swears are for young adults. I’d say I’m aware you’re not a baby, but if you’re going to act like one…” He shrugs, sighs. “I’m hardly qualified for infant care, and what do babies even need magic for?”

“Babies need magic for a lot of things,” Angus argues. “What if their bottles get cold and they want to re-heat them? Sacred flame is good for that! Or what if their oatmeal is too hot and they burn their mouths? Ray of frost! And mage hand, of course, could be used to retrieve wayward stuffed animals that fall from their cribs!”

“Aww, do you need help with getting your wayward stuffed animals?” Taako coos, crouching down so he’s at eye level with Angus. “Is widdle Angus afraid of the monster under the bed trying to get him if he gets out of bed to get his teddy bear? Is this you trying to ask if there’s a spell to ward off boogeymen? It’s okay, little man, you can tell Taako.”

“The monsters under my bed are scared of me, thank you very much,” Angus says primly, crossing his eyes at Taako when he crouches down like that to talk to him. “What I am afraid of, though, is Silvia being mad at me for coming home later than I got permission to be. Let’s get a move on, sir.”

With a loud laugh, Taako stands back up. “There’s a good point,” he says, knowing Silvia isn’t a harsh woman, just strict with rules. He lets Angus set their pace when they start walking again. “I’ll even walk you up to the door and everything, make sure Silvia knows I’m looking out for you since this one’s on me.” Another laugh cracks out of him. “Well, it was on me, until you started the whole baby magic thing.”

“It was a joke,” Angus says. “You’re the one who took it too far.”

“Of course, widdle man. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about your monsters under the bed.”

“Sir!” Angus pouts, shifting the book bag on his shoulders. “I was joking!”

“Sure, sure, sure thing! All just a good joke, mhm, ch’boy gets it. Wink.”

“Sir, please!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Angus pinky swears. Or regular swears if you count hell.


	9. In Which Kravitz Learns A Thing or Two

It’s a very true statement to say that Kravitz enjoys the way Taako dresses. Upon first meeting Kravitz, one might assume that he knows how to dress well, given his normal attire is a well-fitting suit of good name, but honestly he really only knows how to put together two types of outfits: his suit for work, and his grungy ex-music student attire that hasn’t really changed since he was in college. So the fact that the elf he’s currently seeing knows how to dress well in a variety of outfits, different looks and styles, is absolutely a delight. He makes it no secret that he likes it and showers compliments on him copiously (which, of course, Taako eats right up).

Tonight’s date outfit is no exception, although he must admit it flusters him a little to see so much skin on display. The faux snakeskin fitted skirt is nothing new, but the front-tying crop top he wears with it shows off a considerable amount of skin. Their relationship thus far has remained relatively chaste-and yes, Kravitz realizes that it’s largely on his behalf since he’s so damned shy-so it’s rather distracting to see Taako with his midriff bare. He manages not to spend the whole evening staring at him like some sort of uncultured animal, so he considers that a success.

As they’re walking out of the restaurant and debating what to do next (the weather has warmed up and there’s some sort of garden thing going on in the park downtown that Kravitz is curious about), Taako suddenly stumbles, which is unusual because Kravitz has seen him masterfully prance around in heels much higher than what he’s wearing tonight. Instinctively, he reaches out to catch him by the arm, which ends up being a good decision considering Taako almost immediately stumbles again, grabbing his shoulder in return.

“Damn it!” Taako snaps, levitating something up into his hand, expression stricken with grief and horror.

“What happened?” 

“My heel,” Taako answers, voice hollow. From his tone and the look on his face, it’s as though someone has died. “These are brand name!” Still holding onto Kravitz, Taako uses mage hand to undo the buckles on his shoes, stepping out of them. He picks them up with that same look of despair. “I can’t believe it,” he mutters. “I  _ told _ Ren that woman put a hex on me for grabbing these at that sale, but this.” He holds the shoe, now missing its heel, up for Kravitz to see. “This is possibly the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. Do you see this? These are Gucci, Krav! _Gucci_!”

It’s situations like this where Taako must be grateful that Kravitz is attractive because he’s… not exactly well versed in the fashion houses of the world. Pretty and dumb, at least when it comes to this. “That's an expensive brand, right?” he asks slowly, blinking a little owlishly as he keeps holding on to Taako’s arm to keep him from potentially toppling over as he steps out of the (admittedly very nice looking) broken shoes.

Taako looks at Kravitz with what can only be described as heartbreaking pity. “Yes,” he sighs. He looks forlornly at the shoes he now cradles in his arm. “Gucci is a very, very expensive brand.”

A small wrinkle forms between Kravitz’s eyebrows, but it’s not really a perturbed expression, merely thoughtful. The shoes are very nice, and clearly something Taako loves a lot. While Kravitz is not the kind of man to make a big fuss, it’s clear by his house and the clothing he wears that he’s very, very well off. Death is an unfortunately booming business; no matter what the economy does, people will always die, and will always need to be taken care of. Maybe, he thinks, he’ll snag Angus and get him to help figure out what shoes these are  _ exactly  _ so he can replace them. It’s not as if he can just ask Taako, because the elf is very proud and would object to him spending that much money on him outright.

“You really shouldn’t be walking around barefoot like this,” he says, a slight frown on his face. “I drove, after all, so I should take you home.”

“It’s not a good look,” Taako admits. He makes a thoughtful noise and his shoulders slump for a moment before straightening back up with some renewed energy. “Alright, then. My place it is.” He lets go of Kravitz, smiling. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

“I’m less concerned with the appearance of it and more concerned at the thought of you stepping on glass or something equally sharp and hurting yourself,” Kravitz says, chuckling a little. Of course Taako is more immediately concerned with the appearance of it all. “Come on, we aren’t parked terribly far from here, I’ll try and keep you from losing a toe before we get to the car.”

“How about this for not losing a toe?” Taako says and then he’s levitating, suddenly at eye-level with Kravitz. He wraps an arm around Kravitz’s, pulling himself closer to him and pecking him on the cheek. “You can help me around this way. I can keep myself up here for a good few minutes but moving around is not a pretty sight without something to push myself off of.”

“Well, now you’re just showing off.” Kravitz laughs, thoroughly impressed by Taako’s levitation and the ease with which he adjusts himself so they’re eye-level. Usually, Kravitz is still the taller one even when Taako wears heels. “Will you just kind of… float around with me?” he asks, cheeks a little pink but his expression decidedly pleased at being kissed on the cheek.

“Showing off? I would never,” Taako scoffs. “I am at your mercy, my man. I have complete trust that you won’t run me into anything.”

“Ah, how crass of me to even suggest it.” Kravitz laughs, pretending to look chagrined, but he can’t hold it for very long. “I promise I won’t let you run into anything.” The thought mortifies him and he makes sure to take extra care as they walk the short distance to where his car is parked on the street. It’s kind of cute, to start walking with Taako hanging on to his arm, pulling him along with him as they begin walking down the street towards where he parked the car. Taako kind of glides along with him, but he has the impression that he’d just come to a stop or kind of fly off in some random direction if he let go.

“Can you… turn it off?” he asks, trying not to laugh. “Or are you going to be floating against the roof of my car the whole way back to your house?”

Taako seems to consider this. “I’d put my seatbelt on, so I wouldn’t like, be against the roof,” he says sensibly. “But if I can’t end the spell, I could need some help with like, getting in the car and staying seated long enough to get the seatbelt on. Might need some help with that, if you don’t mind getting all up in my business.”

Kravitz looks at Taako, his expression suspicious, but the elf always looks so casual when he says stuff like this that it’s hard to tell if he’s kidding or not. He knows that Taako is a better wizard than he gives himself credit for, but all of Kravitz’s magic is latent stuff, things he can’t turn on and off, so his understanding of how deliberate magic works is theoretical at best. 

“If you don’t mind me being a tomato the whole time,” he answers, stopping beside his car and pulling the keys out to unlock it. He opens the passenger side door and looks at Taako as if to say “alright, let’s see what happens”.

Taako lets go of Kravitz, patting him on the shoulder. “You know I love that look on you, babe,” he says, grabbing onto the inner roof of the car and pulling himself inside. “Look, I’ll go easy on you.” Inside the car, he dispels levitation, plunking into the seat with a soft thump. “I do appreciate the willingness, though. Maybe you can manhandle me some other time.”

“I’m much more amicable to manhandling you if we aren’t in public,” Kravitz answers, looking impressed as he watches Taako maneuver himself into the car before ending the spell. At the very least, he would have been willing to kind of cram him into the passenger side if that helped make things easier, but Taako seems rather adept at getting around when he’s weightless, so long as he has something to kind of pull himself along with. “Is that a spell you use often?” he asks, genuinely curious. He’s seen Taako use it while working before, but he hadn’t thought that he could use it on himself as well.

“Oh, for sure,” Taako answers, offering up a sweet smile as Kravitz closes the door for him. Once Kravitz is seated in the driver’s seat he goes on. “I can levitate all sorts of shit besides myself. Only one thing at a time, and not for long, but I can lift some pretty heavy things. I don’t know what my limit is, since it’s not like I go around messing with things. Magic can be so draining, though, or I'd probably just levitate myself everywhere. Like, crosswalks? Is it still jaywalking if you're levitating over traffic?"

“It drains you?”

Taako makes a face with his eyebrows raised, mouth a flat line. “You really don’t know all this?”

Kravitz gives an embarrassed laugh. “I really don’t. Like I said, innate magic, tutors said not to bother, all that. It’s just not something I really paid attention to once I learned it was of no use to me.”

“Guess I’ll just round out my magic lessons. Give you all the theoretics and Angus the practical,” Taako huffs, but there’s amusement in the upwards turn of the corners of his mouth. “Look, magic takes energy to use, you know  _ that _ much, right?”

“Well, of course.”

“So, something like… me levitating doesn’t take too much more energy than just walking would have. I could probably levitate this car but like, that would take way more energy.” He fiddles with one his earrings, frowning. “I mean, it’s a pretty simple concept. It’s just like, I don’t know, exercising? You jog. You couldn’t just jog all day, you gotta pace yourself and all. If you run yourself too much, your muscles get all fucked and you gotta rest up a lot. Same with magic.”

“That makes sense,” Kravitz says, making a contemplative noise. He hadn’t really thought about it before. Of course he recognized magic took energy to use, but he hadn’t considered what kind of toll it took on the user. “That exercise metaphor is quite a good explanation.”

Taako smirks. “Hey, what can I say? I’m a great teacher.”

\--

The drive to Taako’s house isn’t too long, and it feels that much shorter with Taako answering questions about magic. It’s all simple stuff, really; stuff Kravitz feels he should know, but Taako doesn’t make fun of him for being clueless. One thing he has learned is that Taako likes to show off and as much as he likes to play the idiot he enjoys showing off what he's knowledgable about.

Pulling up in front of the apartment is routine at this point. Kravitz has dropped Taako off at his apartment numerous times. The complex is a handful of one-floor buildings arranged in a semi-circle around the manager’s office and post-boxes. The first time he dropped him off, Kravitz knew Taako’s apartment immediately - an over the top floral wreath on the door, brightly colored curtains in the window, and a handful of lawn ornaments in the patch of grass by his door.

Usually, he pulls up and lets Taako out, waiting for him to close the door of his apartment behind him before driving off. Tonight, however, he actually parks, insisting on helping Taako into his place. The apartment complex is… not the nicest place. For a place that calls itself The Garden Apartments, it’s a hot mess. Broken bottles are normal for the parking lot and the buildings look like they haven’t been updated in more years than should be legal. He doesn’t have to make judgments on the other tenants, as Taako’s mentioned more than once how often he has to deal with police sirens in the complex.

“I mean, I can just push myself from your car to my front door, but if you insist,” Taako says, shrugging as he steps out of the car into the air, foot not touching the ground as he puts a hand on Kravitz’s shoulder.

“I worry you might run into your door with that method,” Kravitz chuckles as he closes the door and locks the car, pocketing his keys.

“I see you have complete faith in my magic.” Taako rolls his eyes, cradling his shoes and allowing Kravitz to escort him. He unlocks the door and steps down inside onto beige carpeting. It’s dark inside and though Kravitz tries to take a peek, he can’t make out much besides shapes. 

The two stand for a moment in the doorway, silence creeping into the awkward territory. Kravitz isn’t sure what the plan is from here. Is their night over? Or is Taako just going to get another pair of shoes? If that’s the plan, should he wait in the car or come in? He feels like he’s been agonizing over the questions for hours before Taako speaks up.

“Listen, if you still wanna go to that park shindig, I could try to find another pair of shoes real quick,” Taako says, glancing over his shoulder into his apartment. “But, uh, I guess I should invite you in. I’m in your place enough and it’s been like, how many dates and you haven’t come in? Least I can do is invite you in while I grab some shoes.” As if he realizes he’s starting to babble, Taako puts a hand on his door frame, smirking up at Kravitz. “You could come in and have some coffee.”

Kravitz swallows thickly. He’s so curious; every detail he can learn about Taako is exciting and getting to finally see where he lives is thrilling. Taako just seems so nervous about it, though. He doesn’t want to cause any discomfort if he’s not ready to have Kravitz over for whatever reason.

“It’s fine. I can wait in the car if you want. I mean, I realize it’s sudden, you probably weren’t expecting a guest-”

“Nah, we’re doing this,” Taako says and yanks him inside without another word. He flips the light on while closing the door behind them and - oh dear. “Welcome to Casa de Taako.”

The first thing that hits Kravitz is the smell - it's not bad, it smells just like Taako, but also a touch like… incense? The second thing is that the apartment is smaller than he had imagined. Stepping inside, he’s immediately in a space comprised of the living room, dining room, and kitchenette; a hallway that must lead to the bedroom with a closet on one side (opened to reveal a washer and dryer inside) and a door to the bathroom opposite. It’s not the size that has him taken aback, however. He’s amazed at the sheer amount of  _ things _ and  _ mess _ that can fill the space.

“Have a seat,” Taako says, plucking what appears to be a pair of tights off the back of an oversized corduroy armchair sitting adjacent a faded floral couch (which is covered in more clothes, a blanket, and an open bag of chips). The coffee table is lined with magazines, some of which have fallen to the floor, a couple wine bottles, wine glasses, and a nearly empty bottle of rum. A TV sits on a bookshelf, the shelves lined with countless DVDs that seem to be in no order.

“You want a drink or anything while I scrounge up some shoes?”

“I’m okay, thank you,” Kravitz says as he sits in the armchair, a bit surprised at how comfortable it is for how worn out it looks. He tries to relax, though the mess has his hair on end. The dining room table is worse than the living room, stacked with books, mail, dishes, snack food, a singular boot (?), and jackets thrown over all the chairs. A glance towards the kitchenette, as Taako passes it to walk down the hallway to his room, confirms it’s just as bad. Dishes are stacked in the sink, pizza boxes are stacked on the garbage bin, and more wine bottles line the counters; Taako said he had people over often, but the amount of alcohol bottles lying around is worrying.

Trying to distract from worrying thoughts, he turns to the more endearing bits of the apartment. The art and posters covering the walls, for instance: posters for Fantasy Legally Blonde and Fantasy Clueless, framed art that Kravitz recognizes from a small gallery downtown, all watercolor landscapes and - he covers his mouth to swallow a laugh. Amongst all the watercolor landscapes is one of the tackiest fishing paintings he’s ever seen and while everything else has slim, black frames, this one is framed in an ornate wooden frame that has Magnus’s handiwork written all over it. It makes this awful painting stand out even more amongst the more delicate ones, constantly drawing your eye back to it so you linger and notice the details and it’s  _ so tacky _ but the longer he looks at it the more he can appreciate the subtleties of the light and shadow and-

“Good art, right?”

Kravitz nearly jumps out of his skin. How had he gotten so caught up in admiring a painting of a fisherman?

“Um, yes. You have quite the collection.”

Taako kicks trash out of his way to the couch, sitting down to drop his armful of shoes on the cushions with him. “Narrowed it down to just a few pairs. Figured I wouldn’t leave you out here to entertain yourself too long. Don’t want you to start messing with my carefully arranged set-up.”

Kravitz bites back a remark about how yes, he might have been tempted to tidy up a bit if alone too long. It wouldn’t have been a problem for him. He likes cleaning.

“I’ve touched nothing, simply admired,” he assures him.

“Yes, you’re good at keeping your hands to yourself,” Taako says sweetly, holding up a pair of shoes that look nigh identical to the ones he had been wearing before. “What do you think of these?”

Kravitz has to look away at that comment, especially with Taako’s tone being what it is. His cheeks warm, embarrassed that it’s come to this but also a little ashamed. It’s cute when Taako teases him about it normally, but this time it feels almost mean. He should really take a moment, but instead he just lets his thoughts spill out unfiltered. 

“Those look exactly the same as the pair you were wearing before.”

Taako’s nostrils flare as his eyes widen, squaring his shoulders. “Excuse me?” he snaps, grabbing one of the shoes up and waving it at Kravitz. “I know you don’t know the first thing about fashion, but exactly the same?  _ Exactly _ the  _ same _ ? Those were Gucci! These aren’t even knock-offs, they’re just - just- department store brand. They’re an inch shorter and pure black - the Gucci had gold accents! Did you even look at my shoes?”

Kravitz had known the words were a mistake the moment he said them, but he couldn’t stop himself. He buries his face in his hands. He knew how important this was to Taako, why’d he have to be an ass just because of one dig at his shyness?

“I’m sorry,” he says after a moment, looking up at Taako, meeting his gaze with sincerity. Taako is still wielding the shoe, wearing an expectant frown. “I didn’t mean that. I may not know the first thing about fashion, but I do pay attention to what you wear. For instance, I haven’t seen you wear any of the same articles of clothing twice. I’ve noticed you tend towards high heels. Your nail polish is never chipped, your make-up never smudged. You prefer gold to silver. You-”

“Enough! That’s enough!” Taako has dropped the shoe into his lap at some point, covering his pink cheeks with one hand while waving the other at Kravitz as if to smack at him. “Just shut up and I’ll forgive you this time.”

This is a new one. In spite of his own irritation (at himself, really), he smiles and continues, “I think the problem isn’t that I don’t pay attention to what you’re wearing, it’s just that I’m too focused on who’s wearing it.”

He catches the shoe that’s thrown at him, Taako now the one hiding his face. It’s useless, though; he’s bright red to the tips of his ears. 

Kravitz’s smile softens and he stands up, shuffling over with the shoe in hand to kneel in front of Taako. “Taako,” he says softly, setting one hand on Taako’s knee. “Please look at me.”

Taako grumbles something incoherent through his hands, peeking out at Kravitz. He covers his eyes so his mouth is uncovered to talk. “I can’t believe you really just said that,” he grumbles, voice soft. “That was the worst line I’ve ever heard.”

Laughing a little, Kravitz leans up to give Taako a quick kiss once his mouth is uncovered. “I meant it, though.”

Taako throws his head back with a louder groan. “That’s the worst part! You’re so gross!” Kravitz barely has a moment to frown, worry if that’s a sincere sentiment, before Taako is nudging him back. “Might as well go full fairy tale here. Put the shoe on me and whisk me out of this trash heap to some fancy garden party.”

Kravitz laughs again and then grins when Taako jumps at the hand on his ankle. “Taakoella, is it?” he says, sliding the shoe onto Taako’s foot, enjoying how the elf is still as red as before. He fumbles with the clasps, earning an amused snort, but manages to figure it out after a moment. He reaches for the other shoe and though Taako offers his foot up freely, he’s still squirming in his seat. “You don’t live in a trash heap, though.” He meets Taako’s gaze, trying not to frown. “Maybe an alcohol-heap.”

Taako thumps his foot against Kravitz’s side, rolling his eyes. “I’m fine, don’t go all alcoholics anonymous on me,” he huffs, motioning for Kravitz to stand. He does, and offers a hand to help Taako up as well. Taako makes a whole moment out of considering it before taking his hand like he’s doing Kravitz a favor by accepting. “The whole crew was over the other night and I was exhausted and then I had to start getting this look put together.”

“It’s a good look.”

Taako smirks, stepping in closer. “Oh, you noticed? You weren’t too distracted by  _ me _ ?”

“I - well,” Kravitz stammers, because Taako has flipped his words back on him much faster than he expected. He had hoped maybe they’d still go to the garden party and he’d at least get through the rest of the date before Taako would start in on him. “You’re always distracting.”

“Hmm, I’ll remember that.” Taako grins, pulling Kravitz down to him for a kiss that they lose themselves in. Taako has his hands on the buttons of Kravitz’s shirt when he suddenly pulls away. “Oh! The garden shindig downtown. You wanted to check that out.”

Kravitz leans after Taako, near enough to pouting. “I’m rather enjoying what we’re doing here.”

“Nope!” Taako starts straightening up Kravitz’s shirt and jacket and then his own outfit, smoothing his hair. “You were looking forward to that thing, we’re going!” He has to practically push Kravitz back to the front door, and they’re both laughing on the way as Kravitz keeps trying to turn around and pout and Taako shoves his hand in his face every time. “That is not going to work! We’re going!”

“But Taako,” Kravitz says in what he hopes comes across more sultry than whiny. “You were just saying how I only admire but never-”

“Nooooope!” Taako shoves Kravitz out the door, locking it behind him. He turns around only to find himself boxed in on both sides by Kravitz’s arms. “Really? Outside my shitty apartment?”

“Really?” Kravitz repeats, trying not to smile. “Against the body drawers?”

Taako cracks at that, leaning back against his door as he laughs. “Fuck you, you were so into it," he wheezes, leaning forward against Kravitz when he gets his laughter under control. “Fine, compromise. We go to the park and as soon as it proves boring we come back here and make-out.”

Kravitz ducks his head for one more kiss before taking Taako’s hand again, now the one leading them to the car. “It’s a deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> self-care is saying "forget posting on a schedule, i want to post a new chapter now"


	10. In Which Emotions Are Had

_ hey krav short notice but you up for a hot date tonight _

 

_ I’m free this evening so how could I say no to that offer? _

 

_ sweet what time can i come over? i got a surprise _

 

_ Are you wanting to do dinner? (Is this a surprise I should be worried about?) _

 

_ yes i wanna do dinner if you take back that comment about worrying about my surprise, my surprises are always baller _

 

_ I’m looking forward to the surprise. How’s 5:30 or 6? _

 

_ yeah i’ll be over before six then. get hype babe _

 

_ I always am when you’re coming over. _

 

_ gross _

 

While anything is tame after their last date, Taako’s outfit when he shows up on Kravitz’s doorstep is far more casual than any other date night wear. He’s got on metallic rose-gold platform sneakers, white leopard-print sweats with green flames striping up the side with a galaxy-print tank tucked into them and a simple black knit bolero over that. Normally he tends towards long necklaces and dangling jewelry, but everything tonight is close to the skin and there’s less of it than he wears even at work, his hair is pulled back in tight french braid.

Taako doesn’t give Kravitz much time to take in his appearance before he’s holding up grocery bags, though. “Ta-da!” he says, ushering past a confused Kravitz and straight towards his kitchen. He sets the bags on the counter and then turns back to face him, hands on his hips and a grin on his face. “Guess what your surprise is.”

Understanding slides over Kravitz’s face and he looks delighted. “Really?” he asks and Taako is stricken by how almost  _ reverential _ he sounds.

“I didn’t just lug these groceries here for kicks.” Taako pulls off the bolero, tossing it to Kravitz. “Now, tonight you’re just watching, though you gotta tell me where shit is,” he says while he starts empting bags - steak, asparagus, cognac (?) and more. Some of it is stuff Kravitz probably already has, but he doesn’t comment on that. “Wasn’t sure what you kept on hand so I just bought everything I needed. Can never have too much olive oil.”

“And asking me would have ruined the surprise.”

“Exactomundo, homes.” Having to walk all the way from the grocery store was completely worth it to see the look on Kravitz’s face, that tone of voice. Taako had made it clear that while he baked sometimes he never cooked for anyone anymore. He hadn’t expected his surprise to be met with a reaction like he truly was bestowing some honor upon Kravitz. He was glad he'd decided to make something with a flair to it.

Kravitz drapes Taako’s jacket over a chair before seating himself at the bar. “An exclusive show? I’m charmed.”

“Rightfully so. Most people would have to pay the big bucks for all this,” Taako says as he starts setting things out for preparation. Hopefully Kravitz wouldn’t ask what brought on this sudden decision to cook. Taako hadn’t quite worked out a good excuse and like hell was he admitting that  _ he  _ wanted to impress someone. Taako was impressive on his own, he didn’t do anything to impress others.

“Consider me doubly charmed, then.”

Taako grinds peppercorns with a mortar and pestle with practiced ease, though some still escapes and Kravitz does well to muffle his laughter when they pop out. An electric grinder may have been quicker, but Kravitz only has a small one for the table and Taako  _ is _ dedicated to showing off. “I’ll put you to work,” he warns time and again and Kravitz properly responds with mock distress each time.

Preparation is quick after that - asparagus coated in olive oil, salt, and pepper and set to roast, along with halved new potatoes coated in olive oil, garlic, and rosemary. It isn’t the most exciting show, but Taako does everything with unnecessary flair while Kravitz shares the more ridiculous of stories from his sister-in-law’s job as a cop (Taako's already heard the few good stories from Kravitz's job).

“Look, you're gonna wanna pay attention to this part. Here we got the high point of the show,” Taako says as he measures out cognac and pours it in the steak pan. He grabs the lighter he had set aside and sticks it just enough in to light the alcohol, flames shooting up to lick the ceiling. Kravitz gives an appropriate “ooh” and Taako a delighted laugh. The flame burns out as quickly as it shot up and he moves the steaks to a separate, warmed plate to start on the sauce.

“So how was that for a show?”

“Much more impressive than what my sister does,” Kravitz says, grinning. “I’d be worried about burning my house down.”

“That’s why you’re watching,” he responds with a grin of his own. It’s fun, preparing something nice in a proper kitchen with good company. He’s missed it. “Now why don’t you set the table while I plate this.”

Plating, of course, is important for showmanship. He plates everything before joining Kravitz at the dining room table, setting their plates down. For not having done this in a while, he’s pleased with how everything turned out. 

“Taako,” Kravitz says, staring at the plate. “This looks amazing.”

“Well, don’t just look at it. Get in there and take a bite,” Taako urges, gnawing on the inside of his cheek. He knows everything is  _ okay _ , is  _ safe _ , but does it taste good? It's been long enough that maybe he had fucked up something even if he had read the recipe all night to make sure he knew it start to finish.

Kravitz cuts into his steak - medium-rare but erring just perfectly to the rare side - and carefully lifts the sauce-covered bite to his mouth. His eyes widen as he chews, giving a frantic nod that has Taako laughing. 

“Good, then?”

“Yes!” Kravitz replies as soon as his mouth is empty. “I assumed you were good, Taako, but… this is better than any steak I’ve had before.”

Taako tries not to grin, the praise calming his nerves. “What, you thought I was lying when I said I could have made it big time?”

“No,” Kravitz says with the sincerity Taako has come to expect from him. “I didn’t know what to expect, however… You made your work in the kitchen look so easy and fun and the food itself…”

“I know, ch’boy’s something else.”

“You really are.”

By the end of the meal Kravitz has showered Taako in more praise for his cooking than he’s had in years. He’s done well throughout to joke and play it up but really it’s struck him straight in the heart and gut. 

“ _ If _ you teach me,” Kravitz says, stressing the “if”, “I still don’t think I’ll reach this level, especially not even having to use a recipe.”

Taako laughs, one hand gripping a fistful of his pants under the table. “Oh, bubele, don’t even entertain the idea of reaching my level. I can get you cooking to impress your family but I don’t know about beyond that.” He laughs again. “I’ll consider it a success when you can feed yourself without needing help.”

“Hmm.” Kravitz sips his wine thoughtfully. “Might be giving me lessons for a long time.”

“No sabotaging your dishes,” Taako says, half choking on the word sabotage. Kravitz at least doesn’t look at him like he’s grown a second head.

“Never,” he’s quick to assure. “Though I won’t argue if at times you just want to cook without me in the way. This is perfection and I’d hate to be the reason it was anything less.”

Taako stands suddenly, chair squeaking against the wood floor. “E-excuse me, my man, I… just. A minute.” Not waiting for a response, he rushes to the bathroom down the hall.

The door is barely closed before he collapses over the sink, face in his hands. He takes a few deep breaths. It’s been so long; so long since he lost everything, so long since he cooked for someone else, so long since he felt so happy and at ease and at home in a kitchen. It‘s overwhelming and he doesn’t want anyone to see the emotion on his face. There’s that longing for what could have been, that same grip on his heart he had long grown used to, but there’s something else, too. Something warm and hopeful and -

“Taako? Are you alright?”

A knock at the door and when had he started crying, fuck. He wipes at his face, thankful for the magic he used to protect his make-up; his mascara isn’t even near to smudging or running. 

“Taako’s good! Just, uh, a little. Just got a bit warm after cooking and wine, gotta splash some cold water on my face, just give me a minute.”

Kravitz doesn’t give him a minute. Apparently he forgot to lock the door and then it’s being opened, Kravitz stepping in with his eyebrows drawn tight together.

“What’s wrong?” He asks, putting a hand on Taako’s shoulder and damn if that isn’t all it takes. Taako turns to him, burying his face against his shoulder and pressing in when arms wrap around him.

“I’m sorry,” Kravitz whispers and he sounds miserable. “I shouldn’t have pressed the cooking thing.”

“Fuck you,” Taako mutters, turning his head just enough for his voice not to be muffled. “It’s not your fucking fault. I mean, I decided to do this, I just. It’s been so long and you’re so, you fucking, you made such a big deal of it and I. It was just - fuck. It was nice. I didn’t realize how much I... how much I missed this.”

Kravitz holds on until Taako finally pulls away, breaths still shaky. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to fall apart there. Kind of ruined things.”

“Nothing is ruined.” Kravitz smiles softly. “Why don’t we take our wine and watch something? The dishes can wait.”

Taako hums agreement to this idea, following him back. Dishes are stacked in the kitchen before they move to the living room. Taako waits for Kravitz to sit and then sits next to him, putting Kravitz’s arm around him so he can snuggle in close. He was always one for physical contact, but especially when he’s upset. (Magnus was good to go to at these times, as long as Julia was around to make him stop asking questions.)

A couple episodes of Great Faerun Bake Off later, Taako sits up with a gasp. “I forgot dessert!” He turns to face Kravitz, anguish written on his face. “I can’t believe I forgot dessert, what kind of fuck up is that?”

“I’ll take an I.O.U.,” Kravitz says, tugging Taako back against him.

Taako grumbles, squirming to lay himself across Kravitz’s lap. “That doesn’t fix tonight, though.” He reaches up, playing with Kravitz’s hair. He hums a little as he plays with the locks. “I could whip up a baller breakfast, though.”

Kravitz is silent and Taako’s hand in his hair goes still. Has he gone too far? 

“I, uh,” Kravitz starts softly, meeting Taako’s gaze shyly. “I think that could work. I don’t have work tomorrow. Do you?”

“Ehh, not until the afternoon. Plenty of time for breakfast and you to drop me by my house.” Letting his eyes droop closed, he goes back to playing with Kravitz’s locks, feeling content. “You’re not gonna make your boyfriend sleep on the couch or in a guest room, are you?”

Both of them startle at the word “boyfriend” and Taako is out of Kravitz’s lap before he can blink.

“Uh, listen, I didn't, that just kind of… I know we haven't talked about that and, you, maybe you don't, you aren't wanting this to, you know, be that kind of thing, I just-”

Kravitz silences him with a brief kiss, all smiles and twinkling eyes. “Consider this us talking about it, and me saying I do want this.” He chuckles and a touch of red blossoms across his cheeks. “And you can sleep wherever you want.”

Taako’s heart is beating near a mile a minute, but he returns the smile. He could do this. Kravitz finds him charming, _endearing_ even (yeah, he's stuck on that). This could work.

And if it doesn't, at least he could enjoy it while it lasted.

"Set me up wherever you're going, then, handsome."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm struggling with writing write now so i might space the next update out a bit so i don't burn through my buffer. but! sunday's my big two-seven and so i'm gonna post a taz fic that had been percolating for a while. i don't know if it'll be a one-shot or turn into something bigger, but it's fun and i hope you all will check it out too! c:


	11. In Which The Cat Is Forcibly Removed From The Bag

The same alarm as every morning wakes Kravitz and he sleepily reaches over to turn it off. Something shifts after him when he moves, pulling at his shirt, and he startles to awareness.

Curled up against him, fingers clutching at his shirt, lies Taako, face so peaceful in sleep. Kravitz smiles as the night before comes back to him - loaning Taako a top to sleep in, how the elf immediately snuggled against him under the blankets. He brushes fingers over Taako’s cheek, settling back into bed. It’s been a long time since he’s had someone else in his bed, but sleeping with Taako feels so natural. There had been no time for nerves as Taako cooed over how comfortable the bed was, joking about thread counts and memory foam.

“Mornin,” Taako mumbles, opening one eye to look up at Kravitz. “Come here often, handsome?”

Kravitz chuckles, pushing hair out of Taako’s face. “I think I should be asking you that.”

“Mmm, in that case.” Taako lets go of his grip on Kravitz, wiping at his eyes. “Think I might become a regular.”

“I think that could be arranged,” Kravitz says, leaning down to kiss his boyfriend’s forehead - his boyfriend! - before sitting up. “You slept well, then?”

Taako grumbles when Kravitz sits up, scooting and squirming until he’s got his head in his lap. “I think I’d rate it a solid nine out of ten. Lay down for another hour and I might bump it up to eleven.”

Kravitz can’t help but smile. His step-mother always talked about the “five love languages” and while he never put much stock in it, he thinks how clear it is that physical affection is a big one for Taako. He’s never been a touchy person himself, but it’s so easy with him.

“We should get up, dear.”

“I guess.” Taako sits up, stretching after removing himself from Kravitz’s personal bubble, climbing out of bed. Just like the night before, Kravitz tries not to stare; Taako is wearing an oversized sweater of his and no pants. “Gotta make good on my breakfast promise, anyways.”

Kravitz slips out of bed, making it up as Taako heads out of the room. Good lord, is he just going to the kitchen without pants on? Not that Kravitz minds but he doesn’t want to stare.

But then, Taako is his boyfriend now. He’s allowed to look, right?

Kravitz gets dressed in jeans and a tee before he heads downstairs, able to hear Taako in the kitchen and smell something sweet in the air. He pauses on his way in to watch Taako. He looks so at home in the kitchen, already well-acquainted with it after the night before. He doesn’t pause as he measures ingredients and mixes them, tossing things in the sink as he’s done with them. It’s only when he’s getting a skillet out of the oven that he notices Kravitz.

“Enjoying the show?” he asks with a grin, pouring a batter into the skillet before returning it to the oven and setting a timer.

“Oh, I, I didn’t mean to,” Kravitz stammers. He really hadn’t meant to stand and watch, it was just so easy to get caught up in. Taako just seems to shine in the kitchen.

Taako laughs, digging in the fridge. “It’s okay, I know I’m a star.” He shuts the door with his hip, holding butter and various jams. “All this plus peanut butter and nutella. I’m guessing someone likes toast.”

Kravitz shrugs. “It’s easy to make?”

“Oh, I’ll have to show you _good_ toast some time.”

Kravitz rolls his eyes but smiles. Of course Taako can make even toast into a delicacy.

While Taako rolls up his sleeves to rinse dishes, Kravitz busies himself with setting the table. He glances at the oven, wondering what they’re having that Taako has prepared them with a buffet of condiments to use. He’s trying to go through all the breakfast foods he can think of when the doorbell rings. He checks the time - not quite nine in the morning. He isn’t expecting anyone this early.

Kravitz opens the door only to be hit in the gut with panic. It’s not even his own panic, it’s what he expects Taako might feel. Magnus stands at his front door, the company truck (Merle’s personal truck with a logo slapped on) parked in the driveway with Merle digging through something in the open truck bed.

“Good morning!” Magnus greets brightly. “Sorry we’re so early, but you said you had the day off and we could swing by whenever and Merle’s got some stuff in the afternoon.”

“Oh… good…” Kravitz’s mind kicks into overdrive. He knows Taako hasn’t told Magnus and Merle about them yet, that he has some plan that he _hasn’t_ _told_ _Kravitz_. He clears his throat and hopes Taako can hear him as he says, “Good morning Magnus!”

That was maybe a little conspicuously loud. The sound of something crashing in the kitchen is even louder, though, and he winces. Magnus squints at him.

“Is everything okay?”

“E-everything is fine,” Kravitz says, forcing a laugh that’s more nervous than he means it to be. “Just, give me a few minutes?”

“Something’s not right,” Magnus says, putting a foot into the house and crowding Kravitz. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing!” Kravitz tries not to be pushed back but Magnus is so huge, he’s intimidating even though Kravitz knows it’s concern on his face and not anger. “I just wasn’t expecting anyone-”

There’s a curse from the kitchen and the concern on Magnus’s face switches to something else. Something amused. “Kravitz…” He grins and grabs him up under one arm, calling over his shoulder. “Merle! Hurry! Get up here!”

Shouting something incomprehensible, Merle is in the house as fast as his short legs can carry him, following Magnus (carrying Kravitz) into the house. They stop when they reach the kitchen, both breaking into a grin at the sight of Taako at the sink. Taako’s face goes white.

Magnus sets Kravitz down and rushes to Taako only to get smacked with a damp dishrag.

“Do not touch me, you barbarian!”

“Taako!” Magnus says in what is nearly a squeal. “When did this-” he gestures to Taako and then Kravitz, “-happen??”

Merle looks up at Kravitz when Taako hesitates and Kravitz looks to Taako in a panic. Does this ruin his plan? What does Taako want him to do?

Taako hums, stepping around Magnus to get to Kravitz, draping an arm over his shoulders. “Oh, forever ago,” he answers with a smug smile. Kravitz nods because, well, that’s fairly true.

“But which of you asked the other out?” Merle asks, frowning up at them.

“Which of us… that’s a good question.” Taako looks at Kravitz, winking. Kravitz hopes that’s a “I’ve got this” wink and not a “run with it” wink because he’s not so good at making things up on the go. “I don’t think there was any asking… just… you know. Action.”

Merle gags and Magnus makes a face. “You can’t be serious! This whole time…? And neither of you asked the other out? You just… just…!”

Taako shrugs, grinning. “Sometimes things just fall into place on their own, my man.”

“Can’t believe Julia was right,” Merle mutters and Taako’s grin blinks out of existence.

“Excuse me?”

Merle sighs. “We had a bet goin and Julia got in on it, saying you two had probably already hooked up behind our backs.”

“I cannot believe you got Julia into this!” Taako howls, swatting at both of them with the dish rag he still holds. “Get out! I don’t care what you’re doing here, get out! Come back in an hour after my boyfriend and I have had a breakfast without two numbskulls in the way! And tell Julia I’m never baking for her again!”

“Aw man, you’re making breakfast?” Magnus’s puppy eyes earn him no sympathy as Taako holds up a hand and threatens to kick his ass out with magic if he doesn’t get moving. Merle mutters something about how Taako never cooks for them as he goes, Magnus also making a big deal out of it but grinning at Kravitz and winking once his back is to Taako. Kravitz offers a shaky smile in return, seeing them out and closing the door behind them.

Grumbling to himself, Taako all but slams the skillet down on the counter as he gets it out of the oven, something golden and brown puffed up inside it. It smells heavenly.

“Cannot believe those two,” Taako huffs, carefully moving the dish from skillet to plate. “Barging into your house, betting on our relationship… and Julia, too!” He waves the spatula he holds in the air. “I’m gonna curse all three of them!” He carries the plate over to the table, setting it down and cutting it into slices as he continues muttering. Kravitz fetches plates and silverware for them, setting the table.

“What would you like to drink?”

“Can I get a shot of rum?” Taako asks and then huffs, setting the spatula in the sink after dishing out their food. “Whatever juice you got.”

Kravitz gets orange juice for them both, sitting down and looking at the table. “So… this is… like a pancake?”

“Yeah, something like that.” Taako grabs the nutella, spreading it liberally on a slice. “It’s a popover, usually called a dutch baby. Real simple and something I figured you’d have all the ingredients for.”

Curious, Kravitz takes a bite without adding anything first and his expression lights up. “This is delicious!” he says and then feels embarrassed when Taako smirks. He’s not surprised it’s good, he’s just not used to this quality of food in his own home. “It’s really impressive that you can make things like this without needing a recipe.”

Taako shrugs, but Kravitz doesn’t miss the way he smiles for a moment, so pleased at the compliment. “Some things you make enough that you just remember, some things are lenient enough that you… well, not you, but I can make do with what I remember of it.”

Not wanting to push the topic of being taught to cook, Kravitz is happy to tuck into breakfast, enjoying the fluffy delight. It’s a comfortable silence, at first, until it becomes clear Taako has something he wants to say. Kravitz lets him take his time, though. There’s no reason to rush him and make him more flustered.

“Uh, listen,” Taako says finally, poking at his food. “So those two reminded me, um. I’m… about last night. I’m sorry for getting weird. I told you before, cooking is a, I got a complicated relationship with it right now.”

“Oh, Taako, it’s-”

Taako keeps going, though, talking over him. “And I know I just called you my boyfriend in front of those dumbasses, but, uh.” A knot forms in Kravitz’s throat. “It was kind of a, maybe a bad time to talk about that last night? I don’t…” Kravitz reminds himself to breathe. “Like, you’re nice, right, and that might make it hard for you to have been like, hey no I don’t want to be your boyfriend, when I was, like… the way I was last night.”

"Is that what you’re worried about? That I felt… That you guilted me into being your boyfriend?”

Taako glances up, meets his eyes and shrugs, looking back down. Kravitz lets out a huge sigh of relief.

“Taako.” Kravitz sets his knife and fork down lightly, waiting until Taako looks up again before continuing. “When I asked you out that first day… I was interested in you in more than just a physical way. It makes me very happy to be able to call you my boyfriend.”

Taako blush is faint as he pushes out of his face strands of hair that have fallen out of the braid he slept in. “That goes for us both, then. I’m, you know, happy, too.”

“That would explain why you clung to me all night despite saying before that I was, how did you phrase it… cold enough to freeze a dick off?”

“Hey! Listen! Taako is not in control of what he does when he’s asleep. Sleeping Taako is a clingy motherfucker, I can’t stop him.” His blush grows a little deeper, creeping up his ears.

Kravitz smiles, picking his utensils back up to finish eating. “Oh, I enjoyed it. I don’t think it’s just sleepy Taako who’s clingy, though.”

“I will curse you, too. Do not even test me!” Taako waves his fork at Kravitz threateningly, face and ears bright red.

“I’ll stop, I’ll stop.”

Kravitz can’t stop smiling, though.


	12. In Which Kravitz Has A Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

It’s been nearly a week since Kravitz last saw Taako. He doesn’t mean to be clingy but… they just started dating, he’s allowed to be a little clingy, right? He got used to seeing Taako all the time when the landscaping was in progress, but now that they’ve finished he’s adjusting to not seeing him all the time. Certainly, not a day goes by that they aren’t texting, but still. 

What doesn’t help is that Taako hasn’t replied to his text from this morning and he could really use the kind of energy Taako brings after the day he’s had. The viewing he oversaw that afternoon had gone poorly, to put it simply, and it had been a while since he had felt such a surge of anger. The commotion had brought Sloane in to the room, who did well to keep him on track with fixing things rather than doling out punishments that weren’t his to give. She had all but kicked him out of the building after the viewing was over, taking over his duties for the day.

Kravitz had jogged off some of the tense energy, going until he was too exhausted to snap at anyone. Even after that and a shower, he still hadn’t heard from Taako; usually he at least sent a courtesy text of something like “cracking open a cold one with the boys, ttyl”. 

He’s tired as he curls up on his couch, eating take-out pasta and drinking a cheap red wine straight from the bottle. He figures if he hasn’t heard from Taako by the time he finishes off the wine he’ll just go pass out. He’s ready for the day to be over if he can’t even have some form of comfort. 

He’s finished dinner and is halfway through the wine when his doorbell rings. He stands and wobbles a little; he probably shouldn’t be drinking so much, especially on a work night, but today was really the worst. 

Steadying himself with a hand on the wall, he’s expecting to find Sloane or one of his mothers at the door, checking in on him (though, isn’t it a bit late for them to come by?). Instead, he’s faced with Taako, holding a box under one arm and beaming up at him.

“Hey babe,” he greets, leaning up to steal a kiss. “Wow, someone’s been drinking.”

Kravitz frowns. What’s Taako doing here? He never replied to his text, did he? Without even responding to Taako, he fumbles his phone out of his pocket, checking. Nope, no reply.

“Why are you here?” he asks, squinting, and maybe it comes out a little more harshly than he means it. Maybe he didn’t quite work out all of his frustration, or maybe he’s frustrated anew that Taako’s just ignored him all day and then shown up like nothing happened.

“Brought you something!” Taako says, holding up the box. His smile has dropped a fraction, but he doesn’t seem put off just yet. “Can I come in?”

Despite his internal debate, Kravitz steps back to let Taako in. This is what he wanted, after all, right? Still, some warning would have been nice.

“So, I know you’re dying to know what I–”

“What I want to know is why you’re here when you couldn’t bother to contact me at all.”

Taako looks up from where he’s sat the box on the kitchen counter, eyes wide. His mouth falls open for a moment and then snaps shut. “Alright, you don’t like surprise visits.” Taako leaves the box on the counter and starts back towards the front door. “Duly noted, won’t happen again, my dude.”

“Wait.” Kravitz catches Taako by the arm when he walks past and when the elf tries to jerk away it knocks Kravitz off balance and he catches himself against the wall. “Wait. Don’t go. That’s not… I didn’t mean it like that.”

Shifting his weight from foot to foot, Taako crosses his arms over his chest. “You gotta say this stuff outright, Krav. I’ll stick around, but only because you’ve been drinking and clearly need help getting yourself together.”

“Thank you,” he sighs, leaning back against the wall. “The living room is a mess, but if you would…”

“Yeah, yeah, a mess, I’m so sure.” Taako takes Kravitz by the arm, leading him to the living room. “A mess” is Kravitz’s dinner trash still strewn across the coffee table, bits of paper and plastic with grease smudged on them. Taako snorts at the sight as Kravitz sits down. 

Taako moves to sit in one of the arm chairs but Kravitz reaches out and grabs his wrist, frowning and tugging him back. Rolling his eyes, Taako sits down with him, but leaves space between them.

“Alright, hombre, what’s got you messed up and-” Taako picks up the wine bottle, looking over the label. “Drinking this kinda shit? This is what I stock, not you.” 

Kravitz leans back into the sofa, grabbing one of the pillows to hold onto, fingers digging into it. “Shitty day,” he sighs, head rolling back. “And then my boyfriend can’t even be bothered to answer a single text when normally I can’t get him to stop sending them.”

Taako winces, pulling his legs up on the couch to curl under him. “Alright, that’s my bad. I was… See, I didn’t have work today because the store was closed for some holiday of Pan's or whatever, but most other people had work or school or whatever? So I spent the day with Magnus and Julia.”

“I don’t see how that keeps you from a text. You’ve texted me in plenty of other circumstances.”

The noise Taako makes is somewhere between a grumble and a whine, like he really doesn’t want to be on this topic. “I wasn’t paying attention to my phone because I was baking. Taako shuts everything out when he bakes, it’s just ch’boy and the kitchen. I needed a distraction so I wouldn’t be blowing up your phone since you said the other day that you had paperwork piling up.”

Kravitz hardly remembers saying that, but he has been busy with paperwork recently, especially after earlier in the week when a woman had a heart attack at her own husband’s funeral. It had been a tough affair and left Kravitz frazzled, less conversational than he usually was with Taako. “You were trying to be considerate.”

“Yeah, but then they kicked me out of the kitchen, and I ended up here, where I apparently should not be,” Taako grumbles, sinking lower in the couch. He’s glaring at something off in the distance so he doesn’t notice when Kravitz shifts to flop himself against Taako. It’s a reversal of their usual positions that makes Taako jolt to attention.

“I wanted to see you,” Kravitz huffs, resting his head in Taako’s lap, looking up at him. “There was a ton of bullshit at work today and it left a bad taste in my mouth and I just wanted to talk to my awful boyfriend for a distraction.”

Taako smiles a little, fingers stroking over Kravitz’s cheek. “Your boyfriend is awful. What happened at work?”

Kravitz lets out a soft sigh, eyes fluttering closed at the touch. “It was a wake for a… for a child, ten years old. They were the victim of a drive by shooting. Things were fine, I’ve dealt with tough situations like this before, but the family.” He can hardly help gritting his teeth at the thought. “Some of them started arguing, blaming each other. It got physical. Fine, that’s nothing new either.” 

He sits up suddenly, Taako’s hand sliding away as he does. “They knocked over the casket,” he grounds out, hands fisted up in his lap. “They couldn't show proper respect for the dead, for the ceremony, for anything. Fights happen at viewings and funerals, but no one has ever knocked over the fucking casket before! For a child they should have been more concerned with mourning!”

A small hiss of breath escapes Taako. Kravitz doesn't need comforting, he needs to be able to go tell people off those people for not knowing how to conduct themselves with respect. He can’t do much for that, though. He reaches out, pulling Kravitz back against him so his head is on his shoulder, so Taako can trace fingers through his hair.

“I hate working the viewings and funerals,” he huffs. “I prefer working with the deceased.”

“Guess some things don’t change no matter what job you got. Customers always gonna be shitty and you just have to put up with it. Maybe you should hire me as like, a bouncer for these things. Somebody gets too rowdy, I’ll just blast them out of there.”

Kravitz chuckles, relaxing under Taako’s soft touch. “If we could get away with it, I think Sloane would fight you for that job. She has less magic than me, but she’d love to kick people out rather than just talking them down.”

“Um, I made up the job, I think that basically constitutes as dibs. Your sister’s gonna have to duel me.” Taako shrugs one shoulder, careful not to disturb Kravitz with the other. “And I’m not pulling punches if she’s not.”

“Oh, Sloane absolutely wouldn’t go easy on you,” he snickers. “I think the only person she’s ever gone easy on is her wife. Of course, she managed to get out of several tickets from Hurley, so I’m not really sure which of them is the softer of the two.”

Taako laughs, nudging Kravitz. “I think we know who’s the softer of the two here.”

Kravitz pulls back to frown out him, expression just shy of a pout. “You sound awfully confident about that for someone who didn’t text me because he knew he’d text me too much.”

“Excusez-moi!” Taako gasps, smacking a hand dramatically over his heart. “I cannot believe you would just come at me like that! At least I spent my moping time being productive instead of drinking cheapo corner store wine!”

“Hey, I’m the one who had a shitty day,” Kravitz says, and he sounds just hurt enough to make Taako deflate some.

“Well, lucky for you, you get to reap the benefits of me being productive,” he says airily, pushing Kravitz away enough to stand. “Why don’t you clean up… this.” He waves a hand over the coffee table. “And then hit me up in the kitchen for dessert.”

As Taako leaves the room, Kravitz’s shoulders droop. He’s an adult, he doesn’t need someone to clean up after him, but he wouldn’t have minded if Taako at least offered to. He kind of wants to be taken care of after his day, but… that’s not Taako’s style. That’s okay. 

He tosses the plastic bits strewn across the table in the bag it came in, grabbing the wine bottle on his way out. Dumping the paper bag in the trash, he sits the wine by the sink to pour out. He won’t be needing that later.

“Okay, bubbale, what you feeling?” Taako asks, opening the box he brought and lifting things out. “I got bear claws, cream puffs, coffee cake, and some sourdough bread that I fought Julia off of. I recommend the cream puffs for you.”

“Well I can't turn down your recommendation.” The cream puff is, in a word, heavenly. Taako leans against the counter and doesn't say a word against it as Kravitz eats a second and a third. “You going to let me get sick eating these?”

“It would be a good excuse for you not to go in to work tomorrow.” Taako’s grinning but shuts the box before Kravitz can grab another. “Nah man, they’re just better if they don’t sit too long. Pop the rest of those in the fridge for tomorrow.” He moves as he talks, finding tupperware to toss the remaining cream puffs in, setting that in the fridge and then handing Kravitz a bottled water. “Now chug a couple of these bad boys before bed.”

Kravitz pouts outright as he takes the water bottle. “Are you not staying?”

Taako considers, rocking back and forth. “I kind of had hopes for tonight, but since you’ve been drinking…” He shrugs. “You don’t need me hanging around when you’re already feeling shitty.”

Kravitz hesitates, takes a sip from the bottle of water to give himself a moment. Taako probably is looking for an out; doesn’t want to be around Kravitz when he’s a mess. He doesn’t blame him. He knows this sort of thing makes Taako uncomfortable. He does, however, very much want Taako to stay. And he can be a stubborn ass, too. If Taako isn’t going to outright say he wants to leave, he’s not going to tell him to go.

“I already told you I wanted to see you,” he sighs, shuffling over to put his arms over Taako’s shoulders, head resting on top of his. “You are making the shitty day less so.” He sways slightly while holding Taako, humming softly. “Your company is delightful.”

Taako is silent, wrapping his arms around Kravitz’s waist and swaying with him. “Of  _ course _ my company is delightful, it’s  _ me _ .” He lets them stand there, just holding each other and swaying for a little while longer before pulling away, smiling. “The night’s still young, yeah? Cause you know, my plans I was talking about, we can still do some of it. Cause I was thinking about checking out how much space that bathtub of yours has once we’re in it.”

Kravitz smiles slowly as he realizes what Taako is saying. “It is a big tub,” he says thoughtfully. “And I think a relaxing soak is exactly what I need.”

“Just leave it all to Taako,” he says, patting Kravitz’s cheek before pushing the bottled water back into his hand. “I’ll go get the tub going. Taako is the relaxation master, just you wait, you’re gonna feel fresh as hell by the time you get in bed.”

“By the time _ we _ get in bed?”

Taako pauses and then laughs as he walks away. “Yeah, yeah.  _ We _ .”


	13. In Which Taako Comes Clean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so hey this chapter may seem like it's gonna get hot and heavy, but it breaks off before that so if that's not your thing, no worries. If that is your thing... I apologize, smut is just not in my wheelhouse and a little out of my comfort zone, so don't expect this fic to get too spicy
> 
> also this chapter title works on multiple levels, I think I'm so funny

Taako runs the water hot as he digs around in the drawer Kravitz has given him in the master bathroom. It’s a weird feeling, having a whole drawer of his own in someone else’s house rather than just awkwardly finding space to shove his shit or having to remember to keep an overnight bag handy. It is nice, though. He digs out a chunk of chalky material that he crumbles under the faucet, water turning purple and bubbly as a subtle wave of black currant wafts up. Yeah, that's the good stuff.

He adjusts the knobs, sitting on the edge of the tub with a hand lazily dipped in to keep watch on the temperature. It's not just the bathroom drawer. He has a drawer in Kravitz’s dresser, too. It just became easier at some point to have clothes over there already if he ended up staying the night. Like this night, for instance. Of course, he came over with the intention of spending the night this time, but he had come straight from Magnus and Julia’s and he doesn't have clothes at their house (he has, however, borrowed and never returned a number of shirts from them both).

Kravitz is carrying the last bite of a slice of bread along with his bottle of water when he steps into the bathroom. He glances curiously at the tub. “When did you bring bubble bath over?”

“Please, that was like one of the first things I stashed in my drawer. You do not think I haven't been eying this tub since I first saw it?” He swirls a hand in the water, more of a lilac color now as the tub continues to fill.

“I suppose I should be more shocked it's taken this long for you to use it,” Kravitz chuckles. Taako looks down at the water, focuses on the growing bubbles.

“Eh, I don't know about me. I was thinking I'd let you have this to yourself, maybe put on some of that classical shit you like to relax to. Let this be about your relaxation.”

Kravitz frowns and sets the water on the counter. He steps closer, gently cupping Taako’s chin in one hand to turn his face towards him. “What's wrong?”

Taako brushes him off, standing and wiping his wet hand on his pants. He’s so stupid, he’s being so obvious, he’s gotta pull it together. “I’m saying,” he says, adding a playful lilt to his voice as he steps in and grabs the hem of Kravitz’s shirt, “That I will be a distraction from the relaxation part of this.” He slips his hands under the shirt, sliding his hands over smooth skin before he starts working his hands up, pushing the shirt up.

“That's not it,” Kravitz says, even as he allows Taako to push his shirt up and then pulls it off the rest of the way himself. “You aren't… You're not acting like yourself. You're being very…” He sighs. “You don't have to stay if you don't want to.”

Grimacing, Taako reaches around to turn off the faucet as the bubbles heighten, threatening to flood over even as the water level stays safe. “That's not it,” he huffs. “I just don't want to get my hair wet but I don't have anything to put it up with.”

Kravitz makes a harsh noise of a laugh. “That's a non issue. You can borrow from me and you know it.”

“Oh, fine!” Taako says dramatically, pulling off rings and letting them clatter on the counter. “If you want me in the tub that badly-”

“If you want to leave so badly, you can,” Kravitz interrupts, stilling Taako when he starts to pull at his own top. Taako pauses, guilt churning in his stomach. This is so stupid.

“Listen,” he says, softly, and he knows he has Kravitz’s full attention. It’s part of what makes it so easy to open up to him and part of what makes it so agonizing, too. If he could just pretend a little bit of disinterest, please. “I've pretty much seen you in the buff at this point and vice versa, right, so like, don't you think it's weird we haven't done more? Does that not seem off to you? Like, pretty sure Magnus and Merle would bet hands down that we’ve been going at it like rabbits since we met. But we’ve barely touched each other.” As he pauses to inhale, Kravitz interrupts. Unusual.

“That's- I- it's not like I don't want to, Taako, but I've just followed your lead and you've never allowed things to go that far-”

Taako interrupts in turn; Kravitz is used to it. “Yeah, no, okay, that's the thing, like, I really want to bone down on you.” He sits on the edge of the tub again, crossing his arms and legs both, hunkering in on himself. “But like, sex is weird, it makes things weird? I don't know. I haven't… My last relationships were like, all sex and when things got more serious I freaked out and left. Now I've got a boyfriend who I haven't already fucked and I have a drawer in his bedroom and his bathroom and what if things get weird when we have sex? What if I get weird and mess everything up? I like- I like what this, us, this thing we have, and I don't want to mess it up.”

Kravitz’s expression is so gentle as he leans down, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. “So that’s what this is about?”

“Mmhm, yup. Local elf is a weirdo fuck-up who doesn't know how to deal with people, more news at eleven!” He sags under the weight of his confession, shoulders drooping as he lets his arms and legs uncross.

“Taako, you aren't a fuck-up,” Kravitz says sternly, hand firm on his shoulder. Neither of them comments on the weirdo part because, really. “I haven't been in a relationship in a while, but I'm pretty sure we get to decide on when we do what ourselves. We can set our own pace and it doesn't matter what others think.”

“Okay, sure, I get that. Glad you're on board. Doesn't change the part where I get weird about things, though!”

Kravitz sits by him on the tub’s edge and his expression is still so gentle but worried now and fuck. Taako didn't mean to make him worried, he's supposed to be helping him destress not re-stress. “We can only deal with the present. If things get weird or change or something we can talk about it and work through it, like we're doing now.”

Taako lets out a frustrated grumble, leaning against Kravitz’s side. “The sex is gonna be great, Krav, I'm not gonna lie to you. But that's worth me potentially ruining all of this with some bullshit?” He can't bring himself to look up at Kravitz so he just nudges his shoulder instead.

Kravitz isn't having that, though. He turns and is a little less gentle as he pulls Taako to face him again. “I don't know why-” he starts to say but trails off as he watches Taako.

For a moment, it's just like in every dumb movie or tv show, with everything in slow motion. Only not. What it is like is one moment Taako is sitting upright and leaning against his boyfriend who he is sort-of arguing with and then he’s not. He’s suddenly warm and wet and underwater and he reaches out and grabs the first thing he can-it's solid and cool, it must be the edge of the tub-and pulls.

Taako surfaces from the water long enough to get a lungful of air before he realizes that, shit, that was Kravitz’s arm and, shit, he’s just pulled him down too and Taako goes down again, this time with an added weight on top of him. The two struggle for purchase against the smooth porcelain, splashing and smacking each other. Kravitz is up first, having gone from on his stomach and legs up to pulling his legs under him. Taako is just getting his own bearings as Kravitz reaches out to help him sit up.

The two sit in the tub staring at each other, Kravitz’s hair carrying a layer of bubbles while Taako’s shirt clings and his hair hangs heavy. It’s hard to tell which one of them cracks first, both of them laughing to the point of pain. Kravitz holds onto the side of the tub to keep himself upright as he laughs and Taako just throws himself on Kravitz’s back, howling along with him at the state of them both.

It’s a good minute before either can calm down and breathe normally again. Taako relaxes into the tub, pushing his hair back and he looks irate but he can still feel the laughter bubbling inside him. “I look like a drowned rat,” he bemoans, clutching at his hair with both hands.

“Dear, you could make it a runway look,” Kravitz chuckles as he settles in the water as well, though he looks less comfortable about hanging out in his clothes in the tub.

“Mm, thanks, that means a lot coming from the next king of the bubble kingdom,” Taako laughs, grabbing a handful of bubbles off himself to add to what’s already in Kravitz’s hair. Kravitz tries to bat him away, but Taako clambers onto him so he’s in his lap. “Stop! I’m making a crown for you! You gotta have a crown!”

The bubbles are soft and don’t want to hold a shape. It’s even harder to get them to hold a shape when the surface he’s working on is shaking. Taako looks down and Kravitz’s cheeks are red as he bites back laughter, quaking with the effort of it. Taako smiles warmly and drags the failed attempt at a bubble crown down the sides of Kravitz’s face.

A laugh bursts out of Kravitz at the same time as he grabs Taako by the wrists. “What are you doing!” he cries, and he really does look near on the verge of tears with laughter at this point. He’s worse than Taako at sucking up his laughter to fake irritation. “What happened to my crown?”

“Hey, that’s monarchy, baby! One day you’re in, the next you’re out!”

Kravitz leans back, laughing still. “This is ridiculous. I feel disgusting sitting in here in my clothes. Can we get out?”

Taako answers with action, slipping out of Kravitz’s lap (and he notes, if they both stretched out, they’d be a little snug maybe, but they’d both fit in the tub, so file that away for later). He stands in one motion, water sloshing around him and splashing Kravitz who puts up a cursory fuss.

“It feels awful,” he agrees, plucking open buttons on his shirt. Out of the water he’s cold, and he wants out of the soaked clothes and into one of Kravitz’s fluffy towels stat.

He feels the water around his legs moving and the sound of the water beginning to drain and then Kravitz is up and pulling his pants off. Despite the… discussion? Argument? Talk. Despite the talk they had just been having, Taako has all kinds of thoughts about what he wants to do with his boyfriend as he watches him strip and step out of the tub, water dripping off him as he grabs a towel for each of them.

It takes Taako a good minute longer to peel all his layers off, but when he finally steps out of the tub Kravitz is waiting to wrap the towel around him.

“So are you relaxed yet?” Taako teases, hugging the towel around him and leaning against Kravitz, who puts an arm around him to support him without comment.

“I don’t know that falling fully dressed into a bubble bath is typically considered relaxing…”

“Hey, fuck you, you were only half-dressed. I should be the one complaining.”

Kravitz laughs, leaning his forehead against Taako’s. “I’m sorry I ruined your attempt at helping me relax. It did help, though, kind of?”

“All part of the plan.” Taako feels more relaxed himself, in fact. Or maybe that’s just the strange calming effect Kravitz has on him. He nudges Kravitz to get him to move and leans up to capture his mouth in a kiss, letting go of his towel to slide his arms around him.

Ever the gentleman, Kravitz is quick to let his own towel fall to grab Taako’s, keeping it wrapped around his shoulders as he kisses him back. The kiss is soft and familiar; the way Kravitz is so pliant as Taako takes the lead, licking into his mouth. As they kiss the chill is swept away by the warmth of their bodies pressing together. Taako breaks away to kiss his jaw, trailing kisses down to his neck, biting just how he knows to get a gasp of pleasure from Kravitz.

Yeah, he’s still worried about things getting weird. He’s also still sure he's going to fuck this up at some point.

Taako smiles against Kravitz’s neck, hands running down his back to grab his ass. Kravitz jumps at the touch, pressing them closer, the skin contact electric. Fuck what he said earlier, he's tired of nothing but hands. He presses himself against Kravitz.

“So you know I say a lot of dumb shit sometimes. I don't trust a word I say. Like all that stuff earlier, complete bull. I know exactly how to relax you since the bath thing didn't work out.”

Kravitz clearly knows where this is going if his choked “oh?” is anything to go by.

“Yeah,” Taako says with his voice dropped to a whisper, stepping back. He drags his hands around Kravitz as he steps away, sliding his hands down his thighs, just avoiding touching anything more. “Why don't you join me in bed and I’ll show you?”

Kravitz follows Taako like a man hypnotized, pulling him in for a messier, more desperate kiss when they've reached the bed. “Are you sure?” he asks when he pulls back to breathe, stroking Taako’s cheek.

Taako mirrors the gesture, stroking Kravitz’s cheek. “After getting everything out in the open? Yeah.” He grins, pushing Kravitz down to crawl over him. “I want this. So as long as my bullshit isn’t running you off then I’m not gonna let my dumb brain hold me back anymore.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kind of an early update cause I got a real hectic weekend starting Thursday. Give me the power to endure with some of those comments?


	14. In Which Taako Makes That Good Toast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry to just have this brief nugget for you, i've been wiped out since last weekend and haven't been able to properly edit the next chapter, so i threw this together real quick so i'd have something to post. thank you for your well wishes last time, by the way! it was a rough weekend and i'm still recovering OTL next week we'll be back to our regularly scheduled program though and we'll get to see our good good magic boy again (taako is about to have A Lot on his plate in the next few chapters)

Kravitz rolls over to smack his alarm off, same as every morning. He falls back into the bed, rubbing at his eyes. It takes a moment for it to register with him that he was not alone in bed when he fell asleep. Taako had stuck around after the night’s  _ activities _ and Kravitz had neatly curled around him when they went to sleep. Where was he now then?

There was no sign of Taako leaving a note and a quick glance in the hamper showed his pajamas hadn’t been thrown in there. Now more curious than concerned, he opened his bedroom door. Halfway down the hall he was hit with the smell of fresh bread.

Taako was in the kitchen, still in his pajamas, with a loaf of bread still in the pan cooling next to him. He was messing with some concoction of cream and something else. If it weren’t for labels, Kravitz wouldn’t know what half the stuff in his kitchen was anymore.

“Good morning,” Taako says, pausing in straining his mixture to offer Kravitz a small smile. Kravitz steps in closer, pressing a kiss to his temple.

“Good morning, dear,” he says, wrapping his arms loosely around his waist. “What’s all this? When did you get up?”

“Woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep,” Taako answers, although something in his voice makes Kravitz think maybe he just hadn’t slept well at all. He’d let it slide this time, at least. “Thought I’d make good on that offer to show you what good toast is.”

“Homemade bread feels like cheating. That makes everything better.”

Taako laughs, nudging Kravitz away so he can remove the bread from the loaf pan. “I’m pretty sure homemade is the exact opposite of cheating, my dude. I mean, you could probably swing this with some good brioche from a bakery, but you’re not gonna beat mine.” He slices the bread thick before brushing each side with butter, setting them into a pan coated with melted butter, making sure to turn each piece of bread so both sides are equally toasted.

“No toaster, either,” Kravitz observes, humming. “This is a lot more complicated than my usual toast.”

“That’s why it’s better.” Taako grins, plating each piece of bread when they’re ready. “You think I’m gonna let you eat some cheap toasted wheat bread the morning after?” He winks and Kravitz has the good nature to blush at the suggestion. 

“Got some creamy ricotta here,” he explains as he puts a dollop on each piece of bread, smoothing it out. “Why don’t you pour us some coffee while I get some jam on these and you can tell me just how good I am.”

Kravitz pauses, hesitates, and then bites his lip as he gives a small smile. “Didn’t I let you know how good you are last night?”

Taako huffs out a laugh, smacking Kravitz lightly with the kitchen towel thrown over his shoulder. “You beast,” he chides. “Get my coffee.” He doesn’t pause as he lowers his eyelids, offering Kravitz a smoldering look. “You know just how I like it.”

Kravitz’s whole face warms at that and he darts over to the waiting coffee maker, preparing two cups. One day he’ll one-up Taako, but maybe not today.


	15. In Which Angus Takes A Break

Angus is smart; too smart for his own good, which always bears repeating. He knows when and how to keep things to himself. Often these things are related to others, but sometimes it has to do with his own life. As good as he is at keeping quiet, he has tells, and Taako has learned them. He knows the difference between “someone else’s business” and “Angus’s life” secrets. And Angus is keeping something from him.

He knows it the moment he picks the boy up from his house. It’s in the way he calls out “be back later” into the house as he leaves, it’s in the way he greets Taako, in the way he asks where they’re going to practice today.

Taako doesn’t say much as he leads them towards the park, not bothering to be subtle. Angus will pick up on his mood one way or the other.

“Alright,” he says when they reach their usual spot in the park, a wooden picnic table under a shor, round tree. “What’s up with you?”

Angus sets his backpack on the table, clearly more nervous now than before.

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to, sir. Do you mean to ask how I am, or how things are going in my life in general?”

“You know what I mean, Angus,” he says, and the proper use of the boy’s name is enough to have him draw in on himself, shoulders hunching. Taako never says his name right unless the situation is serious.

“It’s just a situation with school, sir. Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Bullshit.” Taako walks around the table, pushing Angus down onto the bench. “You know I don’t worry about anything to begin with unless it has the possibility of you backfiring something with your magic. Now fess up or I will go over your head to Silvia and I bet she’s got no idea anything is wrong, huh?”

Angus drops his gaze, not answering. A lump forms in Taako’s throat and he sits delicately beside Angus. “Okay, so I’m no detective but I’m gonna just go ahead and assume that means she’s involved in this problem. What is it?” When Angus still doesn’t answer, he presses on. “Do I gotta get Magnus and his dogs involved like when those kids were bullying you?”

That memory seems to relax Angus a little and he shifts so he’s turned towards Taako, though he still doesn’t look up. “The school wants me to skip two grades and Silvia and Shelley... they think it’s a good opportunity, but… well, they also think I’d have too much on my plate since I’m also taking lessons from you. They think I’ll have a hard enough time trying to socialize with the older kids, much less keep up with magic. Besides, they don’t think magic is necessary or practical for my future.” He says the words with venom, hating the way his future is being discussed and decided for him. “I know what I’m about, sir. I want a challenge, but I also want to learn magic, and I can handle both. But no one cares what I want."

He hesitates, but Taako finally puts a hand on Angus’s shoulder. “Sucks,” he says, because he doesn't know what else to say. He can kind of get where Angus’s parents are coming from, he worries about the kid socializing and having free time to just be, he doesn't want Angus to have a shitty childhood like he had. He realizes, too, however, that Angus does have the self awareness to know what he wants to do and to really feel that blow of having adults ignore him when it's convenient to them. “Maybe you can talk them down to skipping one year instead of two? Better than nothing, right?”

Angus sighs and leans against Taako’s side without asking, which really puts Taako on high alert. “I suppose that wouldn't be too bad of a compromise if they let me keep up lessons. Maybe once I show them how well I adjust to that, I can skip ahead another year without dropping anything!”

“That’ll show em,” Taako snickers, ruffling Angus’s hair gently. “Listen, I know it’s supposed to be magic day, but I’m suddenly feeling like doing a different sort of magic. I’ll owe you a day, so let’s go ambush Krav and bake something.”

Angus sits up and whirls to face Taako so fast he nearly falls off the bench. “Really?!” He’s grinning unabashedly and Taako feels a swell of relief and comfort. He’s still a little stressed about things with Kravitz from the last week and now this. He wants to bake his own stress away and distract the kid; two birds with one stone and all that. He’s glad Angus seems willing to go along with the change in plans.

“Yeah, Kravitz is off today, so even if he’s busy I’m sure he’ll let us take over the kitchen,” Taako says as he stands, letting Angus grab his backpack and pull it on before starting off. “He has a sweet tooth, anyways, so he’s not about to say no to us baking.”

“Good to know!” Angus says, and Taako doesn’t doubt he’s gonna commit that nugget of information to memory and use it to his advantage some day. “I hope he isn’t busy. I haven’t seen Mr. Kravitz since we had dinner with him three weeks ago and since then I’ve read two of the books he recommended and I’ve been hoping to talk about them with him.”

Taako groans. “Oh, great, I’m gonna be giving a baking lesson in the middle of book club.”

\---

Kravitz is steadfastly working in his office on paperwork when he gets the text.

_need to bake. bringing ango with me. you can keep on doin what you're doin, we won't bug you_

Taako doesn't ask if he can come over, if he can use the kitchen, if Angus can come along. Kravitz wonders what’s happened. Taako likes to play up his confidence, that he knows the answer is going to be yes but he’s just asking for formalities sake, but Kravitz has learned his tell. There’s a twitch of one ear, fiddling with jewelry if he has a free hand. Taako doesn't actually rush in without checking first.

_Of course, dear. I’m not doing anything important and I’d be thrilled to see you both for the price of something sweet._

_what, I'm not sweet enough for you?_

_Hmm, this feels like a trick question._

_shit you got me. just tell me you've bought groceries recently, I don't wanna have to hit the store but I can work with whatever you got probably_

_I went shopping just yesterday. I can go out if you need anything, though._

_you're the dream, babe. we’ll see you in a bit_

Kravitz finishes up what he’s doing quickly, maybe a little high on the pleasant surprise of getting to see Taako (and to finally try his baking) as well as that one line: you’re the dream. He knows Taako likes him, finds him and his quirks attractive, but sometimes he can be just aloof enough to make Kravitz worry he might get bored with him. Little things like this reassure him that he’s doing something right; it can be so hard to know what Taako really wants.

There’s not much he can do to prepare for them coming over-his house is spotless as ever. He pokes around in the kitchen, deciding on emptying the dishwasher while he waits. There will be dishes to clean later, after all. He’s just finished putting dishes away and begun looking for something else to busy himself with when the doorbell rings.

“Taako, Angus,” he greets as he opens the door. “It’s good to see you both.”

“Hey babe,” Taako says, pecking him on the cheek before brushing by to head straight for the kitchen. Angus is more polite, waiting to be properly invited in.

“It’s good to see you, as well, sir! I was hoping I’d see you soon so we could talk about the books you recommended me.”

“Oh, you’ve already read them both?” Kravitz can’t keep the surprise out of his voice. Angus had wanted something a little more difficult to read, so he had assumed two books would take him longer; it had taken Kravitz long enough to get through them.

“I read quickly,” Angus explains, the two of them following after Taako, where he’s already poking about in the fridge and cabinets. “How’s it look, sir?”

“Think we can make a simple cake.” Taako sets a loaf pan out on the counter, pulling a mixing bowl and kitchen scale out. “You mind if I use some of those berries in there?”

“You’re free to use whatever you need.”

Taako gives an appreciative hum, moving about the kitchen with ease to set out ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and the aforementioned blackberries and raspberries.

“Alright,” he says, finding an apron to pull on and a second one to toss to Angus (it’s too big, but not so much he’s tripping on it). “You joining us?” Taako gives Kravitz an amused glance, fiddling with one of his rings. “You don’t look in any hurry to return to whatever you were working on.”

Kravitz smiles softly, glancing from the jewelry fiddling to where Taako’s left ear twitches.

“I think I’d rather watch. I can bring my laptop out here to finish up some work while you two bake.” He glances at Angus for a moment, trying to convey his worry at Taako’s unusual behavior, but he only gets a slight shake of the head in return. No answer there, then. At least, no answer that Angus is willing to give.

He wonders what’s happened. It’s clear enough from Taako’s behavior that something is off, and he recalls an off-hand comment about Taako stress-baking; how he does it to clear his head. The easiest drawn conclusion is that something has happened with Angus. Kravitz knows it’s magic lesson day, but instead they’re at his house baking.They’re acting normal enough with each other, however, that it’s not something between the two of them. He doesn’t know Angus well enough to know if he’s acting any different, but if something is wrong with him that would be plenty to bother Taako.

Kravitz wants to know what’s happened. He doesn’t want to know to be nosy, he wants to know in case there’s anything he can do. He cares dearly for Taako and he’s become quite fond of Angus. He doesn’t care to make comparisons, but he knows Angus ranks higher in Taako's life than he does, too. That just makes Angus more important, though. If there’s something he can do to help, he wants to do it.

For now, he sets his laptop on the bar counter top and sits down as the two measure ingredients using the kitchen scale. He didn’t even know he had a scale.

“Another recipe from memory?”

“From what he explained, it’s a very simple recipe,” Angus answers, watching the scale carefully as Taako pours sugar into a bowl set on it. “That’s two-hundred fifty!”

Taako stops pouring immediately, setting the bag down. “You wanna put some tunes on for us since you got your laptop?”

“Do you have any requests?”

Before Taako can answer, Angus is looking up at Kravitz with the most imploring expression. “Do you have any music of your own recorded?” Taako’s head snaps around at the question and he looks considerably interested.

“Oh, I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t.” Kravitz reaches up to fuss with his hair, pulling back locks fallen free from his ponytail. “I’ve only started playing again recently. It’ll just be for fun, but I do plan to have the studio downstairs set up for me to be able to record if I want to.”

“I guess you getting your guitar and serenading us while we bake would distract you from your work,” Taako says with a put-upon sigh before explaining something to Angus as he pours ingredients together into the mixing bowl.

Kravitz pauses on that thought. He hadn’t thought about it before, hadn’t known if Taako would be interested, but he finds that he’d like to play for Taako. Not now-he’s not mentally prepared, and he’s going to have to pick out an appropriate piece to play. But he wants to play something for him, definitely.

“Maybe another day,” he says, opening Fantasy Spotify. “For now, you have all of the internet to fulfill your requests.”

Angus and Taako bicker over what to have Kravitz play, managing somehow to work on their cake at the same time. They’re layering batter and fruit in the loaf pan when Kravitz puts on a playlist of his own - pop song covers by an orchestra. Both heads pop up to look at him, look at each other, and then Taako shrugs and says, “I guess that works.” Angus gives Kravitz a thumbs-up.

Taako talks Angus through layering the second half of batter and berries, giving him something approximating a compliment regarding following instructions. That little bit is enough to make Angus beam, even as he chirps his recognition of his ability to follow instructions well.

“Following instructions is just the start of being a good baker,” Taako says airily, carefully putting the loaf pan in the oven and then leaning against the counter. He looks less tense than earlier, less fidgety. “You’re not even close to my level until you understand what works and why and how to change things up on your own.”

“I’d be happy just understanding what the recipe is asking me to do,” Kravitz chuckles, closing his work documents but leaving his laptop open to play music. “What about you, Angus?”

“Oh, that’s no problem, it’s easy to look up what a recipe means,” he replies and then ducks his head, smiling shyly. “Though, yes, it’s easier if you just know from the get-go.” Kravitz can practically see the light bulb go on above his head as he turns to Taako. “You should start a Fantasy Youtube! You could teach people how to bake like you do!”

Taako laughs it off even as both his ears show a twitch of discomfort. “Just because I’m teaching you two some of my tricks doesn’t mean I gotta start teaching the whole world,” he says, rolling his eyes and removing his apron, draping it on the counter. He grabs Angus, pulling the apron off him. “You just wanna be the kid who’s learning lessons from a celebrity.”

“No offense, sir, but I could be a celebrity in my own right,” Angus says when he manages to shrug out of the apron and Taako’s grip. He looks at Kravitz, frowning. “Everyone makes me submit my tips to the police anonymously, even though it would be a lot easier if I could just work with them.”

Kravitz does well not to laugh, if only because this is all a lot of emotional whiplash. He wants to distract and comfort Taako and then he’s being confronted with the fact that Angus apparently calls in tips to the police? And Angus is down-to-earth and modest, he wouldn’t say that he could be of help to them if he wasn’t positive about it.

“Well, I…” He stumbles over his words, rubs his temple with one hand. “I’m sure you would be of great help, but I imagine it would be difficult to get them to take you seriously, right?”

“Yeah,” Angus sighs, moving around the counter to climb up in the seat next to Kravitz. “I have that problem a lot.”

There’s only two seats at the bar, so Taako doesn’t join them, leaning on the counter opposite instead. “Don’t worry, pumpkin, when they start paying attention you’re gonna be so many leagues ahead of them. You can become the upstart private eye that all the police hate because you solve everything before them.”

“I’d rather work with the police than have them hate me…”

“Please, no one wants to work with the police,” Taako says and then stops, staring directly at Kravitz, who says nothing even as he starts to piece together what Taako is thinking. He tries not to laugh as Taako hurriedly adds to his statement, “I mean, the police force as a unit, anyways. Maybe we can - oh, shit, Krav!” His eyes light up and he reaches out, making grabby hands until Kravitz holds out one of his own for Taako to grab. “We gotta introduce Angus and Hurley! Get Angus someone on the inside!”

Kravitz laughs, pulling his hand from where Taako is squeezing it insistently. “Well, Hurley would be one to take him seriously…”

Angus looks up hopefully, hands fisted against his knees. “Hurley’s your sister-in-law, right, sir? She’d take me seriously? She’d let me help?”

“You two could talk,” Kravitz says carefully. “I can’t make any promises on her behalf. And of course, we’d have to make sure your parents are okay with it.”

The room is stifling with tension suddenly. Angus and Taako both are looking away; Angus straightening his clothes meticulously while staring down, the tips of Taako’s ears twitching as he fusses with how his necklaces fall.

Kravitz isn’t good with this sort of thing. He isn’t a people-person to begin with and he has next to no experience with helping others with their emotional breaks. He, his mother, even Sloane are all bad with emotions… Sloane isn’t as bad as him, true, but she had been raised by Istus, who is comparatively godly at dealing with just about everything. He can’t even ask himself “what would Istus do”, he just knows what she wouldn’t do, and it’s exactly what he ends up doing.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” Angus and Taako reply at once, not daring to look at each other. Their voices are as rough as their expressions are tight, trying to keep something at bay. Kravitz sighs.

“You don’t have to tell me what it is, but it’s clear there’s something bothering you both. Does it… does it have to do with your foster parents, Angus?”

Angus shifts in his seat, glancing to Taako. Some unspoken communication happens there and then Taako gives a slight nod of his head and Angus nods back.

“Yes, sir,” he answers softly, swinging his legs under the counter. “My school wants me to skip a couple grades and my parents think that if I do I need to give up my magic lessons. That’s all. Can we talk about the books now?”

“Of course.” Kravitz slips off his stool, reaching a hand out to Taako to pull him close, putting an arm around him. He can feel Taako relax against him at the touch. “Let’s sit in the living room so Taako can at least be comfortable while he listens to our nerd talk.”

Angus giggles, jumping down from his own seat to follow them. Everything out in the air, the three of them relax as they sit on the couch. Kravitz finds himself in the middle, Taako snuggling up to one side while Angus perches at the other side. The two of them talk about the books they’d read as Taako slips into a nap and Kravitz can’t help but hope there will be more moments like this in the future without anyone being stressed, just them enjoying each other's company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter: life will not give Taako a moment of peace


	16. In Which There Are Two Of Them

Kravitz hasn’t been able to focus on work all day. He's spent the weekend distracted, as well. It’s just that no matter how he looks at it, he can’t find a practical way to help Angus. 

His first thought was for Taako to just go talk to his foster parents - he arguably knows Angus better and the magic lessons could serve as a sort of extracurricular activity. (Kravitz would, of course, come with him, if not largely because Angus had admitted that from their few interactions with him his foster parents liked Kravitz more than Taako.) That felt too invasive, though, like they thought they knew better than his parents, foster or not. 

His second thought had been for them to get permission for Angus to still spend time with Taako and then just have magic lessons without their knowledge. He had quickly dismissed that idea. That was one hundred percent something Merle and Magnus would suggest, which was the only second thought he needed to know it was a bad idea.

Allowing Angus and Taako to still see each other was certainly the main priority. Taako had stayed overnight after they took Angus home on Friday and the elf had poorly disguised his worrying. Angus would of course prefer to keep learning magic, but Kravitz could tell that the big concern for them both was if his foster parents wanted the two to cut contact. Angus had said in the past that some of his previous guardians hadn’t approved of him spending time with Taako. Angus was a good kid, so he hadn’t seen Taako during those times - except when he’d spend time with Mookie, who he had gotten closer to partially because of Merle and Taako’s closeness.

Rubbing his temples, Kravitz rises from his desk and throws away his lunch trash. He’ll walk a lap around the building and see if that doesn’t clear his mind; maybe his mother is around somewhere and they can have a brief chat. 

He’s on his way back through the lobby towards his office when he sees a familiar figure at the reception desk. The style of the outfit is different than usual, and the elf’s hairstyle is short and no longer dyed. Still, there’s no mistaking them. He’s not familiar with the human man standing alongside Taako, but knowing him it could anyone.

“Taako,” he says, putting a hand on the elf’s shoulder to lean down to kiss his cheek. “Your hair looks nice.”

He barely leans in before the elf pulls back, roughly shoving him. “Woah, what the fuck, dude!”

Kravitz stumbles back in shock, staring at who he thought was his boyfriend and… isn’t, but not so clearly. The resemblance is more than a little striking. Looking closely, they’re different… not just the haircut, but this elf lacks the gap tooth and her ears are pierced multiple times. But otherwise, they’re identical.

“Oh. Oh, I am so, so sorry,” Kravitz sputters, hands up as his face warms with embarrassment. “I didn’t… I thought you were someone else.”

This doesn’t impress the elf, who cocks her hip to one side and makes a face that is so much like the unimpressed face that Taako makes. “Uh, yeah, sure. I don’t think so. No one else looks like  _this_ .”

Kravitz’s mind is reeling. There’s just too much here. Lup, she said her name was? She and Taako look identical. They sound similar. From just a moment’s exposure to her, he’d say they _act_ similar.

“Honey, maybe give him a break,” the man with her says, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Uh… sir? Are you okay? Lup, he doesn’t look okay. You didn’t do anything, did you?”

“ _ Please _ ,” she huffs, hands on her hips. “I just pushed him away, and not even that hard. Aren’t you going to protect my honor?”

The man rolls his eyes with a slight smile but steps forward, letting go of Lup to put a hand on Kravitz’s arm instead. “Are you okay?” he asks, frowning as he looks at his face.

“I’m fine…” Kravitz pats the hand on his arm until it pulls away and he swipes a hand over his own face. “I apologize, again. You don’t happen to be related to Taako, do you?”

Lup’s face scrunches up and she looks to the man, who shrugs. She shrugs too. “Never heard of them.”

“Okay. Wow, okay. This is crazy.” Kravitz reaches into his back pocket, pulling out his phone. Lup and the man watch him curiously as he scrolls through it. He opens an album of photos of Taako (careful, he has two albums, one of which has more… _risque_ photos from his boyfriend). “You look exactly like my boyfriend.”

Kravitz expects a reaction of some kind. He doesn’t expect Lup to grab his phone out of his hand and just freely scroll through the album. “What the fuck,” she says, huddling with the man. “Barry, babe, are you seeing this?”

“I see it,” he says, adjusting his glasses. He takes the phone from her, studying a photo that's a close-up of Taako’s face. Barry looks from the photo to Lup and back before passing the phone back to Kravitz (and holding back Lup, who makes a grab for it). “It would answer some questions.”

“Questions?” Kravitz repeats.

“My aunt has always been really tight-lipped about the rest of my family,” Lup answers, folding her arms over her chest. “Fucking… she’s why I’m even here, they say she hasn’t got long left. She can’t talk so I can’t ask her what  _ this  _ is about. Don’t you know anything about it?”

Kravitz shakes his head. “Taako was raised by his father for a few years before he went into the foster system. He said the rest of the family wanted nothing to do with either of them. He never mentioned a… Gods, are you twins? When is your birthday?”

Lup’s answer has Kravitz nearly drop his phone even though he had suggested the idea in the first place.

“Okay. I think I need to get Taako here. This is clearly something. Is this okay? Will you meet him?”

Lup nods without hesitation. “Hell yes. I want to know what’s going on.” She scoots in close to Barry and he puts an arm around her. “I got him here, so I’m fine.”

“One minute, please, this will. I suppose it will take me a moment to explain this to him.”

Kravitz walks past them to his office, hitting the speed-dial for Taako’s phone. He slumps into his desk chair, still unable to fully process what’s happening. This is some kind of television drama shit that does not happen in reality, only it is? Maybe he should have invited them to his office with him, he’s half convinced the pair is going to disappear before Taako arrives.

“Hey Krav.” Taako’s voice is warm and sunny. Kravitz isn’t sure if that makes it better or worse that he’s bringing up family business. Taako hates talking about his family. This is so different, though. “You on lunch break or something?”

“Or something, certainly,” Kravitz answers, and his voice must give away something because before he can say another word Taako is asking if he’s alright. “I’m, well, I’m alright. Taako, there’s someone here you need to meet–”

“They’re not dead are they? Is this some kind of intervention for something?”

Kravitz huffs a soft laugh. “No, dear, it’s not an intervention, and I promise they’re alive. They… she. She looks just like you, Taako. You have a twin.”

Taako doesn’t answer right away and Kravitz can’t tell what the noise he’s making is. Laughing? Crying? Some kind of wheezing, strained… 

“Taako? Are you alright?”

“I’m going to come over there,” Taako says with a voice too tightly drawn. “And find out what the hell you’re talking about. You know this isn’t some shit to just joke about for no reason.”

“I’m not joking, Taako, I’m completely sincere here. I can… I can send you a picture if you want, I'm sure she'd agree.”

“It’s fine. I’ll grab a Fantasy Lyft and be there in a few.”

\---

Taako isn’t sure what he’s expecting when the driver lets him out at the funeral home. He isn’t expecting Kravitz to be waiting at the front door, wringing his hands like he’s the bearer of bad news. He’s not sure what Kravitz is trying to pull here. Or maybe someone from Taako’s family had kicked the bucket and his family is around and he looks like one of them? 

But a twin?

Like he can read the look on Taako’s face, Kravitz’s first words are, “She’s inside. If you’re sure you want to meet her.”

“Well, I’m here already,” Taako says, shrugging. Kravitz’s certainty is nerve-wracking, though. Taako’s dad was a shit-lord to the point even his own family wanted nothing to do with him. That same family never tried to get in contact with Taako, so how could they be much better? He had been a kid. He hadn’t done anything to deserve any of it. 

He’d put his family in their place if they tried to get all cozy with him, that’s what he’d do.

Kravitz opens the door and leads the way in, leading Taako to his office. The two chairs in the room are taken, though the people stand as Kravitz opens the door and Taako steps in.

And it’s like looking into a mirror almost?

Fuck.

“Holy shit!” exclaims the other elf, the not-Taako. “You’re real!” She hops over her chair and to his side without a second’s delay, looking him up and down. “Holy shit.”

“Who are you?” Taako asks, voice nearly hollow. This is more than a passing similarity in looks and while he can sense magic on her, it’s not any kind of disguise. 

“Apparently your twin?” she says, and she seems  _ happy _ about this discovery. But her voice wavers, too, so maybe she’s also nervous.

“Who raised you?” he asks, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall. Kravitz is hovering in the doorway, but Taako doesn’t move closer to him. He doesn’t want anyone getting any closer right now; what he wants is for Kravitz to move out of the doorway so he has an escape if he needs it.

The elf rolls her eyes and crosses her arms in return, leaning against the seat the other person is sitting in - a fairly unremarkable human man who looks just as concerned as Kravitz. “Aunt Chilada. Mom died early and Auntie said my dad just fucked off.”

Taako frowns because he knows that name. He doesn’t remember too many of the names his dad would mention when he’d go on his drunken rampages, but Chilada had been mentioned frequently. 

“Auntie, huh?” Taako scoffs. “Well sounds like Auntie Chilada wasn’t telling you everything since you didn’t know that I was off living like shit with our father.”

“Taako–” Kravitz starts to cut in, but Taako cuts him off.

“No.” He curls his hands in fists, nails biting sharp into skin. “I can understand why our shit piece of a father never told me about you, but why wouldn’t anyone have told you? Why don’t you know? Why was I left with that asshole?”

The look on her face says she doesn’t have an answer for that. An angry laugh almost chokes out of Taako but it’s swallowed down when she surprises him by lunging in for a hug, squeezing him tight.

“I don’t know why,” she says, and she sounds so sincere and  _ sad _ . There’s a sadness to her voice that seems to say if she could change this, if she could have known sooner, she would have made things right. “I don’t know why to any of that. But you’re here! We found each other! Fuck the rest of them, you and I found each other!”

Taako pulls away; holds her at arm’s length. “Listen, that’s great and all.” He manages to find his voice, pulling up the indifferent tone he’s used to putting on. “But Taako? Not interested. Family might as well not be a word in my dictionary. Goodbye.” 

He lets go of her and sweeps past Kravitz before any of them can react. He isn’t expecting her to run after him, much less nearly knock him over as she skids to a stop and grabs him.

“What’s your problem?” she demands, one hand tight around his wrist and her other on her hip. “You don’t want to get to know me at all? I get that our family was shitty, but that doesn’t mean we have to be.”

“Families are shitty,” Taako hisses, trying to pull away and finding himself having to wrestle to do so. “Even if we don’t start that way, we will be, just you wait. Everyone else in our family was, why should we be any different?”

“Fine!” She pushes him away roughly and he nearly falls again. Does she have to be so rough? “Maybe you  _ are  _ shitty, but I’m not!” She gets in his face now, hands fisted at her sides. “One conversation. Give me one real conversation and if you want me gone, I’ll go.”

Taako doesn’t move, returning her glare. He can do one conversation. “ _ Fine.  _ Let’s get it over with, then.”

“Fine.” 

Moving in sync, they stomp back to Kravitz’s office, staring at Kravitz and Barry.

“Out,” they both say, then glare at each other; there’s some amusement in her eyes, though.

“What’s going on?” Kravitz asks, even as Barry is standing and trying to shepherd him out of the room. “I… I need to work, though?”

“Come on,” the man says. “Just give them the room for a bit.”

“I–I guess I can take an extended break?”

The door slams shut behind Kravitz, leaving him with no other choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, so i know this is quite the place for it but uh, i'm gonna be on a brief hiatus because i've hit the end of my buffer, so no update next week, but i'll try to be back the week after. life has been busy and hectic and my mental health has been wrecked and without writing a paragraph i'll just say i haven't been able to do anything by the time i get to sit down, enjoyable or otherwise. i WILL be back, though! i'm gonna keep trying to churn out even five sentences a day, i'm just not going to push myself to make sure i have an update ready. i was gonna hold onto this chapter until i come back, but i wanted to leave a note about the hiatus and hey, why Not leave it on a cliffhanger

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is largely inspired by a RP a friend and I had going until they dropped out of the fandom. I could never let the story go, so I've taken what we did together (the first few chapters) and decided to see where the story goes on my own. 
> 
> Kravitz's last name was yanked from [this gorgeous work of fiction that you should check out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9268937/chapters/21008165)


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